ballet mistress
1
7.9
- noun
- /bæˈleɪ ˈmɪstrəs/
:
maestra de ballet
Examples
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And I was in Edinburgh and I had these very strict ballet mistresses and they did this for me, total silence.
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ballet mistress Sarah Hillmer advised her to "just pretend," Felder recalled.
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ballet mistress at the academy has a reputation for nurturing young talent in the art of ballet.
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Under the ballet mistress's watchful eye, the company prepared tirelessly for their upcoming performance.
Synonyms
1
6.0
A man who directs, teaches, and rehearses dancers in a ballet company
How Senior
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a woman responsible for directing, teaching, and rehearsing dancers' is directly derivable from combining 'ballet' (the domain of dance) with 'mistress' (a woman in authority or in charge). This straightforward noun-noun composition is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Ballet mistress comes from ballet meaning the dance and mistress meaning a woman in charge. Picture a woman at the dance barre guiding steps, correcting dancers and leading rehearsals, so the phrase means 'a woman who directs, teaches, and rehearses dancers'.