malefactress
(ˈmælɪfæktrɪs)
[f. malefactor + -ess.]
A female malefactor.
| 1647 Fanshawe tr. Pastor Fido (1676) 123 She dies a Malefactress. 1797 Mark Noble Mem. Ho. Medici xv. 285 Bianca [was buried] with the ignominy and contempt of a malefactress, and a beggar. 1850 Hawthorne Scarlet L. ii. (1883) 71 We women..should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. |