missis, missus dial. and vulgar.
(ˈmɪsɪs, -ɪz, ˈmɪsəs)
[Corruption of mistress. The oral equivalent of the abbreviation Mrs. (q.v.), which is always written exc. in the vulgar uses explained below.]
1. Wife. (the missis is used by a man in speaking of his own or of another man's wife.)
| 1833 Dickens Let. c 10 Dec. (1965) I. 34 Hint this delicately to your Missus. 1836 ― Let. c 20 July (1965) I. 155 My Missis furthermore desires me to say [etc.]. 1839 Clark J. Noakes lxviii (E.D.S.), Missus! I thinks as how, taa-day, Yow've put the meller's eye out! 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxv, So he altered these words, bowing to the superior knowledge of his little Missis. 1860 Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. i. viii, And what with the Missis being laid up so, things have gone awk'arder nor usual. 1892 Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 11 Then 'ere's to you Fuzzy-Wuzzy, an' the missis and the kid. 1934 T. S. Eliot Rock ii. 65 Lor-love-a-duck, it's the missus! 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) i. 23, I wouldn't let any missus of mine..go gallivanting with another chap. 1975 Daily Mirror 29 Apr. 25 If you fancy taking the missus for a day out, you take her virtually free. |
2. Used by servants (usually without article) in speaking of their mistresses; spec. used by N. American Negroes and in India and S. Africa of a white employer, and loosely of any (esp. a white) woman.
| 1790 J. B. Moreton Manners & Customs West India Islands 154 Then missess fum me wid long switch. 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz (1837) 2nd Ser. 87 The servant..has utterly disregarded ‘Missis's’ ringing. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxvi, ‘Gentlemen’, said the man in blue.., ‘I'll give you the ladies; come’. ‘Hear, hear!’ said Sam. ‘The young missises’...‘Missises, Sir’..‘We don't recognize such distinctions here’. 1850 C. M. Yonge Henrietta's Wish iv. 49 Yes, Miss Henrietta, I was coming down from Missus's room, when Mr. Godfrey stopped me. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxxiv. 203 ‘Missis,’ said Tom, after a while, ‘I can see that, some how you're quite 'bove me in everything; but there's one thing Missis might learn, even from poor Tom.’ 1857 Trollope Barchester T. II. ix. 165 ‘Mr. Slope called with it himself, your reverence’, said the girl; ‘and was very anxious that missus should have it to-day’. 1901 M. Franklin My Brilliant Career xiii. 107 I'll tell the missus on you as sure as eggs. 1924 E. Lewis Harp ii. vii. 98 Does the missis hear the young masters in the stable? 1940 in H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. (1944) 392/2 Mighty fine for young missus. 1942 P. Abrahams Dark Testament ii. iii. 113 As soon as she saw it was a white person she ran back into the house. ‘Ma! Ma! There's a missus at the door!’ 1943 ‘B. Knight’ Covenant (1944) ii. x. 132 He smiled at the Ayah and said, ‘I will speak to the Missis and perhaps she will be willing to go.’ 1950 L. Bennett et al. Anancy Stories & Dial. Verse 48 Eee-Hee Missis, is me same one Sidung yah all de time. 1952 P. Abrahams Path of Thunder iii. i. 190, I work for old missus when I was a child. 1971 Weekend World (Johannesburg) 9 May 2/2 Langton told her to cook. ‘When I refused, he slapped my face hard, accusing me of making myself a {oqq}missus{cqq}.’ |
Hence ˈmissis v. trans., to address as ‘Mrs.’
| 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xlii, ‘Don't Missis me, ma'am’..returned Miss Squeers. |