priestess
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpriːstɛs/
ipa: /priːˈstɛs/
ipa: /ˈpristɪs/
rhymes: -iːstɛs
rhymes: -ɛs
rhymes: -iːstɪs
Forms: form: priestesses
form: priestress
Etymology: From priest + -ess. Compare Middle English preesteresse (“priestess”).
Senses: examples: text: Sir Knight, said she (whose looks, language, and gesture create strange thoughts within me) be pleased to know, that I am (I will not say the first) of those Ladies of Honour, who wait upon the high-born, illustrious, and refulgent Maulkina, Daughter to the high and mighty Prince Paraclet, Prince of No-Land, on the confines of whose Territories we now are, so it is that the Divine Maulkina having been a vowed Votaress to Diana (whose Priestess she was, and whose Oracles she exhibited) upon a night as she sat at the feet of the Image of that chaste Deity […]
ref: 1656, Samuel Holland, Don Zara Del Fogo, London, retrieved 24 Nov 2019, page 118:
text: Among the Northern tribes also the woman was held in all moral aspects the equal of man. Alike the blue-eyed wife of the Barbarian and the proud Roman matron were, as the bearers and breeders of the race, the equals of the fighters and rulers of the race. The importance of their functions was fully recognized and respected, and the priestess at the sylvan altar, the vestals serving the fires and the temples at Rome were held worthy to speak face to face with the gods and convey their blessings to man.
ref: 1894 June, Elizabeth Bisland, “The Cry of the Women”, in The North American Review, volume 158, number 451, →ISSN, →JSTOR, retrieved 24 Nov 2019, page 758:
synonyms: gythja
kahuna
mamaloi
mambo
miko
hyponyms: bacchante
high priestess
glosses: A woman with religious duties and responsibilities in certain religions.
examples: text: The “extenuating circumstances” set forth by the Rev. Mr. Higgins certainly bring home not only the nature of Bishop Hall's problem but its cause; however, the problems of parish life under a deaconess are insignificant in comparison with the very grave issues raised by the ordination of a priestess.
ref: 1944 November 19, “Letters”, in The Living Church, volume 109, number 21, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Morehouse-Gorham Co., page 2:
ref: 1976 July 10, Aubrey Wice, “Anglican, Greek Orthodox Doctrines at Odds: Women Priests Create Rift Between Churches”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, →ISSN, page 36:
text: He has cleverly figured out that the deluded pro-priestess faction of the church already has its necessary two-thirds majority and that the time to act is now.
ref: 1986 June 25, John Fraser, “Dust-up Over Women Will Enliven Anglican Synod”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, →ISSN, page A7:
text: THE Church of England is considering taking legal action against a recalcitrant opponent of women priests in Hull who refuses to take down a church sign which says: "This Anglican parish has no part in the apostasy of priestesses."
ref: 1996 July 15, Madeleine Bunting, “Priest Defends 'Sexist' Sign”, in The Guardian, London, →ISSN, page 6:
ref: 2003 December, Larry A. Carstens, “The Non Serviam of the Episcopal Church: Unsex Me!”, in New Oxford Review, volume 70, number 11, →ISSN, pages 33–34:
glosses: A female Christian priest or minister, typically in a Protestant, Old Catholic, or independent Catholic denomination.
examples: text: As ſoon as they were parted, the Prieſteſs ﬂounced out of the Houſe, call'd for her Coachman, and bid him put in his Horſes, for away would ſhe go […]
ref: 1709, Delarivier Manley, Secret Memoirs and Manners of Several Persons of Quality, of Both Sexes, from the New Atalantis, an Island in the Mediterranean, 2nd edition, London, →OCLC, page 158:
synonyms: presbytera
presbyteress
glosses: A priest’s wife.
Derived terms: high priestess
priestess of Venus
priestesshood
priestesslike