A Dictionary of the English Language/abbess
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| ←abbacy | A Dictionary of the English Language abbess |
abbey→ |
| See the modern Wiktionary entry at abbess |
A′bbess. n. s. [Lat. abbatissa, from whence the Saxon abudisse, then probably abbatess, and by contraction abbesse in Fr. and abbess, Eng.] The superiour or governesfs of a nunnery or monastery of women.
They fled
Into this abbey, whither we pursued them;
And here the abbess shuts the gate on us,
And will not suffer us to fetch him out.Shakes. Com. of Errors.
Constantia, as soon as the solemnities of her reception were over, retired with the abbess into her own apartment.Addison.
