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Glite Dictionary
mayoress

mayoress

1 8.1
A woman who is either the mayor's wife or the town's mayor
  • noun
  • /ˈmeɪəˌrɛs/
  • Archaic
: alcaldesa
  • My worshipful Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress... Councilor Rushworth, Councilor Booth.

Examples

  • As the mayoress, she organized several charity events to support local families.

  • Lady Mayoress, will you come this way, please?

    Quartet (2012)

  • The Lady Mayoress is about to declare the bazaar open.

    In Which We Serve (1942)

  • The mayoress of the sea also came, bringing with her tiny sea lion pastries, not to mention the indispensable little priests who brought with them an extremely fat, potbellied blue Bible.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The mayoress officiated the opening ceremony for the new community center.

  • During the festival, the mayoress gave a speech about the importance of community service.

Synonyms

mayor
vsmayoress
∞ 1.7

An elected leader who runs a city or town government

can mean a woman in that office or the spouse of that office-holder

Surface Forms

mayoress singular
mayoresses plural

Morphology

mayoress = mayor (transparent) = mayor + ess

The meaning is directly formed from 'mayor' with the feminine/agentive suffix '-ess', which is straightforward for learners to interpret.

Etymology

Mayoress is built from mayor, the town leader, and the old ending -ess, which marks someone as 'female'. The word mayor comes from a Latin root meaning 'greater', the same root as in major, so a mayoress is a woman who is either the town's mayor or the mayor's wife.