parsonessn.
/pɑːsəˈnɛs/, /ˈpɑːsənᵻs/, U.S. /ˈpɑrsənəs/ Now rare.
The wife of a parson. In later use also: a female parson.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > parson > [noun] > wife of
parsoness1784
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife > wife of one in specific occupation > specific
doctoress1622
generaless1646
tradeswomana1652
bishopess1699
doctress1748
vicaress1770
parsoness1784
farm wife1831
farmeress1833
old Dutcha1889
rebbetzin1892
owneress1923
faculty wife1962
1784 Unfortunate Sensibility I. 121 The few good ladies,..such as the parsoness,..were extremely concerned.
1858 E. C. Gaskell My Lady Ludlow xiv. 77/1 All the parsonesses were looking at Mrs. Brooke, for she had shown her want of breeding before.
1873 M. Collins Squire Silchester II. i. 3 A lady who was parsoness of the parish.
1898 Contemp. Rev. 75 The parson reigned supreme in the church, and the parsoness in the school.
1905 V. Woolf Let. Feb. (1975) I. 178 It has to go into next weeks Guardian [sc. a church newspaper], and the Parsonesses, I suppose, prefer midwifery, to literature.
1993 Independent (Nexis) 27 Apr. 19 A 10-year-old friend of ours declared: ‘When I grow up, I am going to be a vicaress.’ Would Ray Bloomfield..prefer her to be a parsoness?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1784