governess

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“
And even if this had not been so, the strictest propriety must have been preserved; for the governess was a discreet woman, nearly fifty years of age; and the tutor, though but twenty-five, was the gravest of all grave young men The classroom was arranged in a spare back parlor on the first floor--a spacious apartment whose windows looked out upon the near shrubberies and the distant woods.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A woman employed to educate and train the children of a private household.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Though Houghton had wondered since his return to Willoughby Hall if the governess was after all his master's ladybird. —  Mary Balogh - The Secret Pearl
  • He, his wife and their governess were the only English people I met; the only people, indeed, with whom I did more than exchange bare civilities. —  The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh
  • I know that there has been great literary debate over whether the governess was actually crazy of if there were, in fact, ghosts. —  BiblioAddict
  • She considered, most unreasonably, that her governess was the alternative of the pony, and that if she were without the one she might possibly acquire the other. —  The New Girl at St. Chad's A Story of School Life
  • She knew that a governess was an impossible item in Manchester House, as things went. —  The Lost Girl
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This word has been looked up 82 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English governesse, short for governouresse, from Old French governeresse, feminine of governeor, governor, from Latin gubernātor; see gubernatorial.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from govern + -ess.
  2. from governess, n.
 

Pronunciations
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/ˈgəvərnɛs/
by American Heritage

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