quartermistressn.
/ˈkwɔːtəˌmɪstrᵻs/, U.S. /ˈkwɔrdərˌmɪstrᵻs/ΚΠ
1681 S. Colvil Mock Poem i. 22 A pigeon..imploy'd..As quarter-mistriss, to ordain, In which the first meridian Should lodged be for Calculation Of Longitudes in Navigation.
2. A woman whose role is likened to that of a military quartermaster, esp. as a provider of food, clothes, lodging, etc. Also figurative.In quot. 1799: a quartermaster's female companion.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > supply > [noun] > provider or supplier > female
cateress1637
quartermistress1799
1799 tr. G. E. Lessing School for Honor v. xv. 106 Doth not the Quartermaster want a Quartermistress?
1918 Daily Kennebec Jrnl. (Augusta, Maine) 27 July 2/2 All dressed up in a uniform of green, recently issued by Quartermistress Nature, Augusta's war gardens are now lined up at attention on dress parade.
1971 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press 28 June 21/1 The unit wore its new uniforms, designed by Mrs. Adeline Scribner, quartermistress and seamstress for the Buccaneers.
1998 C. McIntosh Evol. Eng. Prose (2000) ix. 199 The lady's role as quartermistress of the house, as commissar of the laundry and maker of cheese.
3. Military. A female officer having the duties of a quartermaster. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > leader or commander > officer according to function > [noun] > quartermaster > woman
quartermistress1917
1917 Times 13 Aug. 3/1 The W.A.A.C. will be controlled by a Chief Controller, and the following appointments are authorized:—..Quarter mistress Class I. Attached to Depôt.
1918 Manitoba Free Press 28 Mar. 8/3 Miss Robb is a quartermistress in the Women's Army Auxiliary corps.
1927 Times 6 Jan. 12/4 She was at first Quartermistress and Acting commandant of V.A.D., Cornwall.
1991 A. Blair More Tea at Miss Cranston's xv. 167 Anyway I was sent to Cairo as a quarter-mistress at a big barracks beside the Nile.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1681