schoolmistress

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a woman who teaches in or is in charge of a school, now chiefly in historical contexts

   The village schoolmistress taught reading and arithmetic to children of every age.

A compound of school + mistress, modeled on schoolmaster. Mistress once commonly meant a woman with authority, skill, or charge of an institution, so a schoolmistress could be either a female teacher or the woman responsible for a school. The title is now chiefly historical.

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