governor-ess

See also: governoress

English

Noun

governor-ess (plural governor-esses)

1. Rare form of governoress.
   1. A female governor.
      • 1907 August 1, Porter Enterprise, volume 4, number 35, Porter, Okla., page [4], column 1:

        Frantz for governor. All the world loves a cheerful man. Frantz will control the state convention. Webbers Falls is to have a new railroad. Frantz will be nominated without opposition. This is the day the republicans name the governor. Today the corner stone of this grand new state will be laid. Governor Fratz’^[sic] stenographer was governor-ess for a few days this week. Many prominent democrats are lining up for Frank Frats^[sic] for governor.

      • 1910, Elbert Hubbard, “A Woman for Governor”, in The Lawyer and Banker and Bench and Bar Review, page 198:

        Marilla Ricker is running for Governor of New Hampshire. She would make an ideal governor-ess.

      • 1910 April 13, The Cincinnati Enquirer, volume LXVII, number 103, Cincinnati, Oh., page 9:

        A WOULD-BE GOVERNOR-ESS. MRS. MARILLA RICKER, A woman lawyer of national reputation, who is a candidate for Governor of New Hampshire.

   2. The wife of a governor.
      • 1859 January 8, “The Royal Middy and His Adulators”, in The Glasgow Herald, number 6024, page 4, column 6:

        He opens a ball (given by the Governor) with Lady Le Marchmont (this little fellow of 15 and the full-blown Governor-ess must have made a sweet couple).

      • 1880 January 23, “Eli H. Murray”, in The Cincinnati Enquirer, volume XXXVIII, number 23, Cincinnati, Oh., page 4, column 8:

        He [Eli Houston Murray] is one of the handsomest men in Kentucky, and his wife is one of the leading beauties in the State. The Mormon brethren will be dazzled by the brilliancy of their beautiful Governor-ess.

      • 1880 August 25, “The Cook Book in Politics”, in The Merrick County Item, volume 1, number 33, Central City, Neb., page [2], column 2:

        And lest our attacks should seem invidious by connecting the wives of these eminent relics with the evident motive of the governors, let us hasten to add that whereas, the names of these eminent governor-esses may have greatly increased the sale of the Buckeye Cook Book, what do our readers think when they find Gov. Stearns, of Florida, himself giving instructions in the artistic erection of orange pie, and Gov. Irwin, of Cal., dilating upon the correct method of making pumpkin pie, and lastly, Gov. Sam’l J. Tilden limping along in this august procession with a simple receipt for the manufacture of “Veal Loaf,” whatever article of vertu that may be? […] Mrs. Gov. Pillsbury in six lines lays bare the mysteries of orange cake, and in the same space Mrs. Gov. J. C. Cochran reveals the secret art of compounding lemon custard. In fact nearly every State in the Union is fairly represented through the cuisine art of either a misplaced Governor or Governor-ess.

      • 1925 December 5, “The War in Texas”, in The Atlanta Constitution, volume LVIII, number 175, Atlanta, Ga., page six, column 1:

        As a Thanksgiving day gift to inmates of the Texas penitentiary, Mrs. Ferguson—the governor, or “governor-ess,” assuming that her husband is the real executive—issued 105 clemency proclamations.