Mis"tress (?), n. [OE. maistress, OF. maistresse, F. maitresse, LL. magistrissa, for L. magistra, fem. of magister. See Master, Mister, and cf. Miss a young woman.]
1.
A woman having power, authority, or ownership; a woman who exercises authority, is chief, etc.; the female head of a family, a school, etc.
The late queen's gentlewoman! a knight's daughter!
To be her mistress' mistress!
Shak.
2.
A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it.
A letter desires all young wives to make themselves mistresses of Wingate's Arithmetic.
Addison.
3.
A woman regarded with love and devotion; she who has command over one's heart; a beloved object; a sweetheart.
[Poetic]
Clarendon.
4.
A woman filling the place, but without the rights, of a wife; a concubine; a loose woman with whom one consorts habitually.
Spectator.
5.
A title of courtesy formerly prefixed to the name of a woman, married or unmarried, but now superseded by the contracted forms, Mrs., for a married, and Miss, for an unmarried, woman.
Now Mistress Gilpin (careful soul).
Cowper.
6.
A married woman; a wife.
[Scot.]
Several of the neighboring mistresses had assembled to witness the event of this memorable evening.
Sir W. Scott.
7.
The old name of the jack at bowls.
Beau. & Fl.
To be one's own mistress, to be exempt from control by another person.
© Webster 1913.
Mis"tress, v. i.
To wait upon a mistress; to be courting.
[Obs.]
Donne.
© Webster 1913.