A Dictionary of the English Language/abbess


A′bbess. n. s. [Lat. abbatissa, from whence the Saxon abudisse, then probably abbatess, and by contraction abbesse in Fr. and abbess, Eng.] The superiour or governesfs of a nunnery or monastery of women.

I have a sister, abbess in Terceras,
Who lost her lover on her bridal-day.Dryd. D. Sebast.

Constantia, as soon as the solemnities of her reception were over, retired with the abbess into her own apartment.Addison.

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