Ms.

Meanings

1. 1
   name

   Initialism of Morgan Stanley.

   According to a list of participants on the forum’s website, the CEOs of Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) still plan to go. Both banks declined to comment. But a person familiar with the situation said Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein was “unlikely to attend.”

2. 2
   noun

   Title used before an adult woman's name or surname, especially when it is not desired or possible to indicate her marital status with Miss or Mrs.

   Ms Jane Doe, Ms. Roe

3. 3
   noun

   the form of a literary work submitted for publication

4. 4
   noun

   Abbreviation of manuscript.

5. 5
   noun

   Initialism of mint state, a grading term.

6. 6
   noun

   M/S: Initialism of motor ship.

7. 7
   noun

   Initialism of morphine sulfate.

8. 8
   noun

   Initialism of mitral stenosis.

Etymology

Found since the 1600s as an abbreviation of mistress (whence also Miss and Mrs), a title which initially did not indicate marital status. Suggestions that the term be revived began in 1901, and referenced the fact that dialects such as Southern US English already made no distinction between Miss and Mrs (/ˈmɪz/) in speech. With the founding of the magazine Ms. in 1971, the term quickly became widespread as an alternative to Miss and Mrs., which require knowing (and publicizing) the referent's marital status.