murderess
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English morderes, from Old French morderesse, moeurdrese; equivalent to murder + -ess.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /mɜːdəˈɹɛs/, /ˈmɜːdəɹɪs/, /ˈmɜːdɹɪs/, /-ɹəs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmɝdəɹəs/
- Rhymes: -ɛs, -ɜː(ɹ)dɹɪs
- Homophone: murderous (one pronunciation)
- Hyphenation: mur‧der‧ess
Noun
[edit]murderess (plural murderesses, masculine murderer)
- (dated) female equivalent of murderer: a woman who commits murder.
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Triumph”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 228:
- ‘[…] Yet am I very fair, Kallikrates!’ / ‘I hate thee, murdress, and I have no wish to see thee. […]’
- 1992 March 4, Elizabeth Grice, “Why a spell inside gave fresh hope to ‘Tart Number One’”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 42,516, London, page 15, column 1:
- “All the murderesses I met in prison”, she [Kathryn George-Harries] says lightly, “had committed their crimes in domestic arguments. They chose the gun. I chose to go for the Meissen. Nobody’s worth doing life for.”
- 2014 October 5, Matt Rudd, “Scandal! Horror! Homicide! Murders by gaslight”, in The Times[1], London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 October 2023:
- Our maniacal murderess filled a bonnet box and a Gladstone bag with all but the head and the foot of poor Mrs Thomas, and threw them from Richmond bridge.
Translations
[edit]woman who commits murder
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Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms suffixed with -ess (female)
- English 3-syllable words
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛs
- Rhymes:English/ɛs/3 syllables
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)dɹɪs
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)dɹɪs/2 syllables
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English dated terms
- English female equivalent nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Murder
- en:Female people