Poless

English

Etymology

From Pole +‎ -ess.

Noun

Poless (plural Polesses)

1. (rare, archaic) A female Pole; a Polish woman.
   • 1827, [Thomas Carlyle], “E[rnst] T[heodor] W[ilhelm] Hoffmann”, in German Romance: Specimens of Its Chief Authors; […], volume II (Containing Tieck and Hoffmann), Edinburgh: William Tait, […]; London: Charles Tait, […], page 182:

     What was more to the purpose, he seems to have amended his conduct he had married while at Posen; his wife, a fair Poless, was possessed of many graces, and of contentment and submissiveness without limit; […]

   • 1877 September 21, The New Orleans Daily Democrat. […], volume II, number 264, New Orleans, La., page 2, column 2:

     BEAUTIFUL POLESSES. / The Polish ladies, says a Warsaw correspondent of the Boston Journal, are very beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful in the world.

   • 1885, J[ohn] T[homas] Bealby, quoting J[ulius] E[duard] Hitzig, “Biographical Notice”, in Weird Tales […] , volume II, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons:

     The new scene of his labours cannot be better described than in the words of Hitzig and of Hoffmann himself. The former says the city had “[…] troops of young Polesses dressed in the gayest-coloured silk mantles conversing to each other across the spacious squares, venerable old Polish gentlemen with moustaches, caftan, pass (girdle), sabre, and yellow or red boots, the coming generation in the most matchless of Parisian fashions, Turks and Greeks, Russians, Italians, and Frenchmen in a constantly varying crowd; […]”

     [original: […] Schaaren junger Polinnen in den hellfarbigſten ſeidenen Staubmänteln; ehrwürdige alte polniſche Herren mit Schnurrbärten, Kaftan, Paß (Gürtel), Säbel, und gelben oder rothen Stiefeln, und das neue Geſchlecht in den incroyableſten Pariſer Moden, Türken und Griechen, Ruſſen, Italiener und Franzoſen, in immer wechſelnder Menge; […]]

   • 1900 June 12, The Evening Journal, volume XXXIV, number 34, Jersey City, N.J., page 3:

     TWO POLES MADE ONE / The Nuptials of Parola Gentcynski and A. Zarmoski. / LITTLE POLAND EN FETE. / Carriage Drawn by Four White Horses Took Bridal Party to Church—Wedding Supper in Kosciusko Hall—The Poles and Polesses Present.

   • 1903 May 16, “Real Name Was Quite Enough: Kataczyna Andrzewska Was Given a Verdict for Other Names Neighbor Called Her. Regular Polish Holiday; They Crowded Courtroom and Testimony Nearly Drove Interpreter to Distraction. Big Neighborhood Quarrel”, in The Buffalo Review, volume 1, number 3, Buffalo, N.Y., page 10, column 2:

     Kataczyna Andrzewska is the appalling name of a lady of Polish extraction who applied to the Municipal Court for balm for wounded feelings. She alleged that one Rosa Polinska had applied epithets to her and made statements concerning her which no self-respecting lady could tolerate. In reply Rosa asserted that the lady with the bunch-of-fire-cracker-name had assaulted and injured a 4-year-old child of the house of Polinska. / Both cases were pushed with vigor. Poles and Polesses by the dozen appeared to testify to the events alleged by both.