matron
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English matrone, from Old French matrone, from Latin mātrōna (“married woman”), from māter (“mother”). Doublet of matrona.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈmeɪtɹən/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪtɹən
Noun
[edit]matron (plural matrons)
- A mature or elderly woman, especially one of a higher social rank.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
- grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a matron before she was a mother
- A woman with the character of a mother or matriarch.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 146, column 2:
- But there’s no bottome, none / In my Voluptuouſneſſe : Your Wiues, your Daughters, / Your Matrons, and your Maides, could not fill vp / The Ceſterne of my Luſt, and my Deſire / All continent Impediments would ore-beare / That did oppoſe my will.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, […].
- A woman in charge of the domestic arrangements of an establishment or institution, especially, the nursing officer or chief nurse of a hospital.
- the matron of a school or hospital
- A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children.
- 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 237:
- Roman matrons, sexually exhausted, were fond of trout caught in a little stream in the Vosges Mountains.
- A housekeeper, especially, a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public institution.
- (US) A female prison officer.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]mature or elderly woman
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housekeeper
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senior female nurse
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female prison officer
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References
[edit]- “matron”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “matron, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Anagrams
[edit]Esperanto
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]matron
- accusative singular of matro
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪtɹən
- Rhymes:English/eɪtɹən/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- American English
- en:Prison
- en:Female people
- Esperanto 2-syllable words
- Esperanto terms with IPA pronunciation
- Esperanto terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:Esperanto/atron
- Rhymes:Esperanto/atron/2 syllables
- Esperanto non-lemma forms
- Esperanto noun forms