persecutressn.
/ˈpəːsᵻkjuːtrᵻs/, /ˌpəːsᵻkjuːˈtrɛs/, U.S. /ˈpərsəˌkjutrəs/ Now rare.
= persecutrix n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > [noun] > persecution > one who > female
persecutrixa1572
persecutress1645
1645 J. Hoyle Serm. 1 Here was now but one life..to hold by, and that a tender one in his nurses hands, hunted after by a bloudy persecutresse.
1647 R. Stapleton in tr. Juvenal Sixteen Satyrs 105 Juno, the patronesse of the chast, and implacable persecutresse of immodest women.
1760 H. Walpole Let. 3 Feb. (1840) IV. 23 Resentment against her persecutress.
1794 A. E. Booth tr. B. Naubert Alf von Deulmen II. 76 I saw her who was once my sister, and is now become my persecutress and accuser.
1889 Cornhill Mag. Mar. 322 The persecutress was relentless.
1899 Living Age 28 Oct. 207/1 Rome..abandoned even her customary toleration, and became the ruthless tyrant and persecutress of free thought and feeling.
1969 W. A. Camps Introd. Virgil's Aeneid 45 Twice he is advised, and twice he obeys the advice, to pay exceptional honour to Juno his persecutress.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1645