Titanessn.
/tʌɪtəˈnɛs/, /ˈtʌɪtənᵻs/, U.S. /ˈtaɪtn̩əs/ 1. Classical Mythology. A female Titan (Titan n.1 2b).Quots. a1599 and 1649 refer to Mutability who is described by Spenser as ‘a daughter by descent Of those old Titans, that did Whylome striue With Saturnes sonne for heauens regiment’.
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the world > life > the body > bodily height > tallness > [noun] > and broadness > person > woman
giantessc1380
rouncival1596
Titanessa1599
rouncy1647
a1599 E. Spenser Canto Mutabilitie vi. iv, in Faerie Queene (1609) sig. Hh4v So likewise did this Titanesse aspire, Rule and dominion to her selfe to gaine.
1649 T. Forde Lusus Fortunæ 82 We can find no place free from the rule of this Titanesse.
a1734 J. Clarke tr. Ovid Metamorphoses (1735) i. 16 Tho' the Titaness was moved, yet hope is mixed with doubt; so much do both distrust the advice of Heaven.
1773 P. Wheatley Poems Var. Subj. 105 What, shall a Titaness be deify'd, To whom the spacious earth a couch deny'd?
1842 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 29 Oct. 325/1 Comes there to Saturn a Titaness.
1879 Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. 10 120 The Titaness Themis is referred to..as the source of her son's knowledge of futurity.
1940 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 61 438 Her [sc. Diana's] mother was a Titaness.
1982 Guardian 10 Aug. 6/3 The Titanesses, Sybils, and Norns who are the old women of pre-Christian mythology.
2007 P. Wilkinson & N. Philip Mythol. 48/1 Apollo..was the son of Zeus and a Titaness called Leto.
2. figurative and in figurative contexts. A woman likened to a Titaness, esp. on the grounds of (actual or metaphorical) stature; a female titan (Titan n.1 3). Also: something likened to a Titaness.
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1822 C. Lamb in London Mag. Dec. 530/2 Softest and largest of thy sex, adieu!..last and best of the Titanesses.
1862 B. Taylor At Home & Abroad 2nd Ser. ii. iv. 90 St. Helene..rises grandly above all the neighboring chains... This Titaness is robed in imperial hues.
1904 G. Brandes Main Currents 19th Cent. Lit. V. xii. 168 In that generation of heaven-storming Titans and Titanesses he [sc. Balzac] appears a peculiarly earth-bound creature.
1965 Spectator 10 Dec. 765/1 Mrs. Norman Chandler, the titaness of the Los Angeles Music Festival.
2008 Time Out N.Y. 13 Mar. 133/4 The German born Leon pays tribute to the Teutonic titanesses of Weimar cabaret..including Marlene Dietrich.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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