priestess
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From priest + -ess. Compare Middle English preesteresse (“priestess”). Piecewise doublet of presbyteress.
Base: priest
Affixes: -ess
Inflected forms:
form: priestesses
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: priestress
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: priestesses
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: priestessing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: priestessed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: priestessed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: priestress
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A woman with religious duties and responsibilities in certain religions.
pos: noun
examples: 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 […]
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.
gloss: A female Christian priest or minister, typically in a Protestant, Old Catholic, or independent Catholic denomination.
pos: noun
tags: slur
uncommon
examples: 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.
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.
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."
gloss: A priest’s wife.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
obsolete
examples: 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 […]
gloss: To oversee (a pagan ceremony, etc.) as priestess.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Ye Ye Ife, a gifted feminist ritualist and priestess of Oshun from San Diego, trained in the Yoruba tradition, designed and priestessed the ritual with me.
Priestessing the earth is for me personally the only natural response to the awe and deep love this evokes in me.
I priestessed the ceremony. I played Hecate. One time I played Demeter and my daughter played Persephone.
Derived words: high priestess
priestesshood
priestesslike
priestessly
priestess of Venus
Translations: