visitressn.
/ˈvɪzᵻtrᵻs/, /vɪzᵻˈtrɛs/, U.S. /ˈvɪzətrəs/ 1. A female visitor. Also transferred.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > visit > visitor > [noun]
resorter1533
comer1576
visitor1576
visiter1592
visitant1601
caller1786
visitress1827
visiting fireman1926
1827 E. W. Barnard Swallow i The visitress of man, on earth She resteth not her flagging wing.
1832 Fraser's Mag. 5 173 Our importunate visitress.
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre III. vi. 136 Keenly, I fear, did the eye of the visitress pierce the young pastor's heart.
1869 W. R. Greg Lit. & Social Judgm. (ed. 2) 25 It is highly proper that by such an act at this time, you express your contradiction of our importunate visitress.
2. spec. A woman who undertakes regular visiting of the poorer households of a district in order to help or advise.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [noun] > visiting for philanthropic purposes > philanthropic visitor > woman
visitoressa1843
visitress1861
1861 M. Arnold Pop. Educ. France 104 If she ceases to be a schoolmistress, she becomes a visitress or a nurse, or she gives her labours in the dispensary.
1894 Westm. Gaz. 5 Oct. 2/3 There is an understanding..that district visitresses have a..vested right to the society of curates.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1827