priestess
(ˈpriːstɪs, ˈpriːstɛs)
[f. priest n. + -ess1, taking the place of the earlier priestress.]
1. a. A female priest; a woman who holds the postition and performs the functions of a priest, or (loosely) of a minister of religion.
| 1693 Creech in Dryden's Juvenal xiii. (1697) 336 He goes to Delphos, humbly begs Advice; And thus the Priestess by Command replies. 1709 J. Johnson Clergym. Vade M. ii. 99 Priestesses or women-presidents are not to be constituted in the church. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 416 In the next room are the heads of Livia Augusta veiled, and a priestess of Cybele. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 451 The gifted priestess among the quakers is known by her green apron. 1884 S. St. John Hayti v. 184 He [Salnave]..made considerable presents to the [Vaudoux] priests and priestesses. |
b. fig. and transf.
| 1738 Pope Epil. Sat. ii. 234 Her priestess Muse forbids the Good to die, And opes the temple of Eternity. 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. I. 101 If mistresses of families will make their own passions their idols, they can seldom hope for virtuous priestesses to serve the altar. 1817 Lady Morgan France i. (1818) I. 48 Pretty bouquets are tossed into the carriage windows..while the little priestesses of Flora offer their gratuitous prayer of ‘bon voyage’. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. iii, O Sorrow, cruel fellowship, O Priestess in the vaults of Death. |
2. A priest's wife. (colloq.)
| 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. I. 158 The Priestess flounced out of the House, call'd for her Coachman, and bid him put in his Horses, for away would she go. 1778 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 207/2 The Jew priest of the Hamburgh Synagogue, in Fenchurch-Street, was divorced from his priestess. |
3. Comb., as priestess-queen (after priest-king).
| 1920 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. iii. xix. 114/1 The Sumerians allowed much more freedom and authority to women than the Semites. They had priestess-queens, and one of their great divinities was a goddess, Ishtar. |
Hence ˈpriestesshood, the office of a priestess; the system of priestesses.
| 1841 C. E. Lester Glory Eng. II. 139 When one of the six..happens to die, the remaining five fill up the void; and thus the priesthood, or, rather, priestesshood, lives on in a sort of corporate immortality. 1887 H. R. Haweis Light of Ages v. 145 The priesthood and priestesshood were as perfectly organised. |