governoress

• governeress (obsolete)
• governor-ess (rare)

Originally from Middle English governeresse, from Old French governeresse. In this form (with -o-; unlike governeress, governer seems to have never been more common than the -o- form) and later uses, directly from governor +‎ -ess.

governoress (plural governoresses)

1. (now nonstandard) A woman employed to educate children in private households. [-e- form: c. 1422; -o- form: 1826 (mention)/1855]

   Synonym: governess

   • [1826, Peter Smith, An Analytical System of English Grammar; […], Edinburgh: […] Oliver & Boyd, […]; and Geo[rge] B[yrom] Whittaker, London, page 17:

     How are the following nouns improperly formed, and what should they be? viz.—Lifes, knifes, dwarves, mischieves—boxs, churchs, dishs, fishs—enemys, flys, skys, spys—louses, mouses, oxes, pennys—arcanums, datums, erratums, phænomenons—bacheloress, benefactoress, governoress—boys books, girls dolls, childs rattle—diligence sake; Jane’s, Margaret’s, and Isabella’s mother; John’s, Peter’s, and Frank’s books.]

   • [1832, The Manual of Orthoepy: Being an Attempt, on a New Plan, to Render a Right Pronunciation of Words Attainable at First Sight. […], London: H. C. Todd, […], page 91:

     Tutoress] Properly tutress, as or has a masculine signification; as well might we write instructoress, governoress, &c.]

   • 1855 January 4, “Who Is Mrs. Nightingale”, in D. P. Thompson, editor, Green Mountain Freeman, Montpelier, Vt., front page, column 6:

     […] when the hospital established in London for sick governoresses was about to fail for want of proper management, she stepped forward and consented to be placed at its head. Derbyshire and Hampshire were exchanged for the narrow, dreary establishment in Harley street, to which she devoted all her time and fortune. While her friends missed her at assemblies, lectures, concerts, exhibitions and all the entertainments for taste and intellect with which London in its season abounds, she whose powers could have best appreciated these, was sitting beside the bed and soothing the last complaints of some poor, dying, homeless, querulous governess.

   • [1863, Henry Gabriel Migault, Versuch einer Englischen Schul-Grammatik auf historisch-kritischer Grundlage [Attempt at an English School Grammar on a Historical-Critical Basis] (in German), Nuremberg: […] Jacob Zeiser, page 52:

     God, Gott, goddess ſtatt godess; actor, Schauſpieler, actress ſtatt actoress; hunter, Jäger, huntress ſtatt hunteress; governor, Statthalter, governess ſtatt governoress; sorcerer, Zauberer, sorceress ſtatt sorcereress; abbot, Abt, abbess ſtatt abbotess.

     God, god, goddess instead of godess; actor, actor, actress instead of actoress; hunter, hunter, huntress instead of hunteress; governor, governor, governess instead of governoress; sorcerer, sorcerer, sorceress instead of sorcereress; abbot, abbot, abbess instead of abbotess.]

   • 1869 November 13, Caroline Conrad, “The Forged Check”, in The Lincoln County News, volume 4, number 34, Fayetteville, Tenn., front page, column 3:

     Cleora Duhamel was a belle, an heiress, and motherless. Her father, a wealthy merchant, engrossed in business, imagined that money would do anything, and so left his only daughter to tutors and governoresses, masters and mistresses, who were well paid for, as nearly as possible spoiling a girl who was naturally self-willed and high-tempered, but had also a warm heart and a good many generous impulses.

   • [1878 June 28, “West of England Institution for the Deaf and Dumb”, in The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette for the West of England; or Public Advertiser for Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, and Dorset, volume CVI, number 9,898, [791958370 page 6], column 3:

     All the plurals of nouns were given with strict correctness—bench, benches; enemy, enemies; mouse, mice; sky, skies; calf, calves; thief, thieves; pony, ponies; donkey, donkeys, &c. The same may be said of the genders, except that the feminine of governor was by one pupil made “governoress.”]

   • 1880 March 6, “A Sarcasm of Fate”, in Martinsburg Independent, Martinsburg, W.V., page 3, columns 2–3:

     She performed her duties as no governoress had ever performed them, and the twins progressed to their mother’s complete satisfaction. […] She is nothing but the children’s governess; […]

   • 1882 January 20, “Dramatic Entertainment. “The Romance of a Poor Young Man.””, in The New North-West, volume 13, number 30 (whole 654), Deer Lodge, Mont., page [3], column 3:

     CAST OF THE PLAY: […] Mlle Helouin—a governoress..Miss May Hodges

   • 1887 December 10, Emil Barksdale, “Fletcher”, in Harper’s Weekly. A Journal of Civilization., volume XXXI, number 1616, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, page 902, column 3:

     Dey aunt kum an’ tuk kyar uv ’em; an ’dey got a governoress ter kum an’ teach ’em tell dey wuz ole ’nuff ter go off ter kollidge.

   • 1889 May 12, Mary Gay Humphreys, “Little Aristocrats. Princely Apartments for Sons and Daughters of Millionaires. Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt’s Nursery. How Children Are Disciplined Here and in England. A Young Girl’s Beautiful Rooms”, in The Pittsburg Dispatch, Pittsburg[h], Pa., page 15, column 5:

     Accordingly a substitute is provided. It is the nursery governess. She is a woman of gentle manners, if with limited education. This is her profession. She has passed from family to family. All her antecedents are known. She has a professional pedigree which is open to inspection, so carefully is chosen the woman who is to be governoress of this mimic realm. She has no menial offices to perform, the nursery maids do these under her supervision. […] This position she keeps until the education is sufficiently advanced to transfer them to the governess.

   • 1894 April 7, “The Vanderbilt Children”, in The Ketchum Keystone, volume XIII, number 17, Ketchum, Ida., page [4], column 2:

     The music lessons, which are at any price from $25.00 to $50.00 a quarter, and on the unemployed afternoons, if any are found, there is the instruction governoress, a lady who takes the children to walk and who, while walking, is supposed to instruct them in the knowledge of the various objects they see.

   • 1894 November 3, “The Czarina’s Condition Serious”, in Wilkes-Barre Record, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., page 2, column 1:

     Her friend and former governoress, Mme. Descalle, a Belgian, has been with her throughout the ordeal of the last week.

   • 1895 December 5, “American Missionaries Safe”, in The Indian Citizen, volume X, number 32, Atoka, Indian Territory (now Okla.), page [2], column 3:

     The United States minister, Alexander W. Terrell, has received a dispatch from Antab announcing the safe arrival there of the American missionaries belonging to the central Turkey mission (Dr. and Mrs. Americus Fuller, the Rev. Charles S. Sanders, Mrs. M. Trowbridge, Miss Ellen M. Pierce and the English governoress, Miss McDonald.)

   • 1902 April 10, The Tuskegee News, volume XXXVII, number 3, Tuskegee, Ala., page [4], column 2:

     Miss Holmes, of Pensacola, is the governoress in the family of Mr. J. C. Pinkston, of Shorter.

   • 1902 September 7, George Ade, “Modern Fables By George Ade. The Modern Fable of the Troubles of the Unemployed and the Danger of Changing from Bill to Harold.”, in Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise, Ida., page 16, column 5:

     After she began to have a Governoress for Stuyvesant Jimpson and an Imported Nurse for the little Evelyn Jimpson her memory began to blur in spots and she couldn’t have done up the Dishes to save her life.

   • 1902 December 2, “Notable Novels of the Year”, in Reno Evening Gazette, volume LIV, number 48, Reno, Nev., page 3:

     It takes the form of the revery of a London bachelor, who from his club window watches the courtship of a nursery governoress and a poor artist, becomes their peace maker in time of quarrel, relieves the poverty of their minature^[sic] house, and constitutes himself the guardian of their small son on his daily visits to the gardens.

   • 1902 December 11, “Commencement Exercises: Pro and Con Club Entertainment in Osceola Hall”, in The Berkshire Evening Eagle, volume 11, number 151, Pittsfield, Mass., page 5, column 3:

     Miss Heloise Vittoria Lernalotta, (lately governoress to the Serene Highness, the Princesses Clothilde and Amalie of Saxe-Mecklimburger-Schweitzer, Carlsbad-Sprudelsaltz, Siedlitz, an-dem-Spree) instructress in vocal and instrumental music, drawing and painting, French and Italian, ancient and modern history, belles-lettres, calisthenics, etiquette, etc.

   • 1905 March 22, “Griscom Suicided: Son of Philadelphia Millionaire Whose Disappearance Caused Sensation Jumps From Steamship”, in The Daily Democrat, volume XXXIII, number 96, Natchez, Miss., page 6, column 3:

     Later it was learned that Elsie Hansom, who had been a governores in the Griscom family had preceded young Griscom and there were rumors of a contemplated elopement, […]

   • 1908 July 14, “American Woman Hurt in Auto Wreck. Accident Near Munich—Chauffeur Killed.”, in The Hartford Courant, volume LXXII, Hartford, Conn., page 11, column 3:

     Count C. A. Wachtmeister, the Swedish consul general at Cairo, Mrs. Maria Lord of New York and her 10-years-old son, Andreas, and Miss Engquist, the governoress, were seriously injured.

   • 1909 June 12, “Training a Future Queen”, in The Roanoke Times, volume XLV, number 140, Roanoke, Va., page five, column 2:

     Wilhelmina’s Governess Tells of Her Majesty’s Girlhood. […] These articles are being written by her governoress, who was with the little princess from her fifth year until she grew to womanhood.

   • 1909 September 25, Concordia Daily Kansan, Concordia, Kan., page two, column 2:

     “Is the old white hen to be sent away for the summer ma?” “I don’t think so, Harry. What makes you ask?” was the reply, “Well this morning I heard papa tell the new governoress I heard papa te take her out for a spin in his new auto just as soon as he sent the old hen away for the summer.”

   • 1910 May 9, The Philadelphia Inquirer, volume 162, number 129, Philadelphia, Pa., page 14, column 8:

     GOVERNORESS or companion, highly educated; German, speaks English and French.

   • 1910 June 28, “[News of Surrounding Towns] Dublin, Ind.”, in The Richmond Palladium, volume XXXV, number 232, Richmond, Ind., page six, column 1:

     Miss Dora Stant assumed her duties as governoress at the Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home, Monday.

   • 1911 June 8, “Properly Characterized”, in The Altoona Times, Altoona, Pa., page 4, column 2:

     Following the recent episode at Annapolis, in which a cadet was reproved for appearing at a hop with a daughter of a professor at Yale who was engaged as governoress in an officer’s family, and other exhibitions of caste in both services, it was time that some such plain pronouncement as that made by the president in this case informed the military class that there is no place in this country for such artificial barriers based on social or racial prejudices.

   • 1911 July 10, “Emilie Grigsby a Regular Visitor at Palace and Close Friend of Royal Family”, in The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, Calif., page 4, columns 2–3:

     She also gave a reception at the house now leased by her in Mayfair in honor of Countess Dussau, the French secretary of Queen Mary and governoress of the royal children, through whom she made her acquaintance with royalty.

   • 1970 December 16, St. Petersburg Times, volume 87, number 145, St. Petersburg, Fla., page 8-C, column 1:

     SURVEY Workers, trainees ok $66 GOVERNORESS, 5 days $60 (fee)

   • 1973 March 20, “Drug Death Confirmed”, in Evening Journal, volume 41, number 67, Wilmington, Del., page 34, column 3:

     He did so after jurors heard testimony from actor Burt Reynolds, Miss Miles and the Governoress for the actress’ son.

   • 1976 October 6, William B. Collins, “Pinter’s ‘Innocents’ has lost its bloom”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, volume 295, number 98, Philadelphia, Pa., page 7-D, column 3:

     Memory may not be serving well here, but it seems that much less is made of the unspeakable things that went on between Peter Quint and the former governoress, Miss Jessel, whose shade also haunts her successor.

   • 1977 October 22, The Hartford Courant, volume CXL, number 295, Hartford, Conn., page 48, column 7:

     GOVERNESS, Widower needs live in for supervision and care of three small children. Liberal salary and live in benefits included. 2 years experience as Governoress or related occupation and references required.

   • 1979 June 25, Celia Andrews, “On my week-end TV: Cost of care is paid by pleasure”, in Western Daily Press, volume 242, number 39,181, page 7, column 1:

     Squire Mallen in The Mallens (ITV) had no past or present, or even future, except as a man of many affairs who turned to a very plain governoress when all his other women deserted him in misfortune.

   • 1982 February 20, Jeannie Rasmussen, “[Movies in Reno-Sparks] French Lieutenant’s Woman (R)”, in Reno Evening Gazette, Reno, Nev., page 3C, column 2:

     The movie [The French Lieutenant’s Woman] is at its best in the Victorian segments, telling the story of Sarah, an ex-governoress made outcast by of her love for a Frenchman.

   • 1986 December 24, “From little terror to Princess Perfect . . .”, in Western Evening Herald, number 31,478, Plymouth, page 29, column 2:

     It took a firm governoress, boarding school and a finishing school to get rid of the rough edges — and, by her late teens, the young Princess [Alexandra] was emerging as a beautiful and serene woman.

2. (dated) A female governor. [-e- form: c. 1425 (c. 1370); -o- form: 1869]

   Synonyms: (dated) governess, (rare) gubernatrix

   • 1869 February 25, Redpath [pseudonym], “Redpath Visits the State Capital. a. d. 1900.”, in Iron County Register, volume II, number 29, Ironton, Mo., page [3], column 2:

     I was introduced by Mrs. Onward, the Governoress, to Mrs. Sapient, the Speakeress of the House.

   • 1873, W[illiam] S[tarbuck] Mayo, “Mrs. Stichen’s Boudoir—A Morning Call—Just touch-and-go—Society here and abroad”, in Never Again, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, […], page 541:

     “My husband,” continued Mrs. Stichen, “says to me—you know that he has plenty of sense, if he is a little coarse—he says, ‘Lizzie, you have tried society now, and it don’t pay. Why don’t you dive into philanthropy? Get yourself in as Directoress, or Governoress, or Presidentess, or some thing or other, and draw on me for the expenses?’ […]”

   • 1883 December 28, The Larned Chronoscope, volume 6, number 42, Larned, Kan., page [2], column 1:

     There is a strong effort being made to appoint Mrs. Dunway governoress of Washington territory, and the politicians are preparing a petition to President Arthur to that effect.

   • [1884 January 11, “Odds and Ends”, in Salt Lake Daily Herald, volume XIV, number 183, Salt Lake City, Ut., page [5], column 3:

     A large public meeting in Wyoming Territory has requested the President to appoint a woman as Governor. If this be done, will she be a governor or a governoress? And will she be “her excellency” or “her sweetness?”]

   • 1888 November 2, “Current News”, in The New North-West, volume 20, number 19 (whole 1,008), Deer Lodge, Mont., page [2], column 7:

     Twenty-one women the other day nominated Alice D. Stockton for Governoress of Massachusetts.

   • 1890 December 14, “The Epoch of Regencies. This is the Condition of Things in Europe at the Present Time.”, in The Pittsburg Dispatch, Pittsburg[h], Pa., page 4, column 5:

     These are the governments of Holland, Spain, Bavaria, Servia and Brunswick. In the first named country a woman reigns for the first time since “Governoress” Margaret of Parma, more than 300 years ago, and in Spain another young German Princess is holding most successful sway.

   • 1892 May 6, “Amusements”, in The Evening Express, Los Angeles, Calif., page 4, column 1:

     The New York World is a “mean, spiteful old thing.” It says: “The female suffrage bill has passed the House at Albany, but there is no cause for alarm. Our laws will not be enacted by Assemblywomen and Senatoresses for some time to come, and we shall not have to ask a Governoress to veto objectional legislation.”

   • 1896 May 8, “Good Bye, Kingman Schools”, in The Kingman Weekly Journal, volume 5, number 693, Kingman, Kan., page [3], column 2:

     One pleasing feature is that the young men outnumbered the young ladies who graduated. This is the first time in the history of the high school that such a thing has happened, and goes to show that in the new era said to be just dawning, when the Mary Ellens and the Tirzah Ann’s shall rule, that the boys—six of them at least—will not have to be cooks or chambermaids, but are eligible for clerkships and stenographers to the mayoress, the governoress, the senatoress and the many other esses usually attached to people who hold high official positions.

   • 1897 October 23, “Woman Governor: Not Elected, But Empowered With Executive Authority Nevertheless”, in The Dayton Evening Herald, volume XVII, Dayton, Oh., page 1, column 4:

     For ten days a woman was Governoress of Idaho; not as a result of election, but Governor nevertheless, empowered with executive authority, and exercising it. This woman was Miss Margaret Reeve, the private secretary to Secretary of State Lewis. All the State officers from Governor down, were called away, and State documents, including requisition papers were signed in blank form. When the lady realized the responsibility that had been thrust upon her, she wanted to close up the State House and go home.

   • 1898 June 7, “Personal Paragraphs”, in The Times, number 8289, Philadelphia, Pa., page 4, column 6:

     Mrs. L. P. Johnson, of Idaho Fallls,^[sic] Idaho, has been nominated for Governor—or, perhaps, it should be Governoress—by the Prohibitionists of that State.

   • 1901 January 2, “Telegraphic News”, in Nanaimo Free Press, volume XXVII, number 219, Nanaimo, B.C., front page:

     Princess Beatrice in her capacity of Governoress of Wight and the Duke of Connaught, representing the Queen, awaited Lord Roberts, whose arm was still in a sling as a result of being thrown from his horte^[sic] in South Africa.

   • 1905 November 2, Lowell Mellett, “The Boarder: Absence of Ladies Causes Him to Change Again”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume 58, number 73, St. Louis, Mo., page 14:

     Women’s rights! I’ll bet if a woman were elected Governor there would be none but male clerks and stenographers in State House. ‘Women are so much more bother,’ the Governoress would say.

   • 1909 March 1, “Benson Now Acting Governor of Oregon; Takes Oath of Office with Simple Ceremony; First Official Act Is the Appointment of S. A. Kozer Insurance Commissioner—New State Executive Will Serve in Two Capacities”, in Oregon Daily Journal, volume VII, number 310, Portland, Ore., page 1:

     Secretary of State Benson today became the third governor that Oregon has had in the last three days. Chamberlain held the office up to about 12 o’clock midnight Sunday, at which time Mrs. C. B. Sheldon became “governoress” of the greatest and only state that ever had that kind of a ruler.

   • 1909 November 21, “If Wives Should Take the Places of Their Husbands”, in The Sun, volume CXLVI, number 5, Baltimore, Md., page 4, column 1:

     Think of the talent that has been wasted in this country of ours by not allowing the wives to run things half the time. There’s Mrs. Harriman, who was never given the opportunity to build a single railroad, Mrs. Rockefeller hasn’t even one little trust of her own, Mrs. Hughes has never acted as Governoress of New York for one single day.

   • 1910 May 12, Frank W. Taylor Jr., “Twinkling Stars”, in The St. Louis Star, volume 27, number 9413, St. Louis, Mo., page 12, column 4:

     Longworth for Governor of Ohio. There’s one way Nick can probably get it. Elect Mrs. Nick governoress and people will naturally refer to him as Governor the same as we do to the wife of a king gentleman as queen.

   • 1911 January 15, “The Lady Governor of Jersey”, in The Sun, volume CXLVIII, number 60, Baltimore, Md., page 6, column 3:

     Our compliments to Governoress Ida Phillips, of New Jersey. It will be a new sensation for that old State to have a lady Governor, even if it is for only twelve hours.

   • 1911 January 31, Myra Williams Jarrell, “Ramblings”, in The Santa Fe Red Ball, volume 1, number 1, Topeka, Kan., page 3, column 1:

     There is one bill I shall present, when I am a member of the House of Representatives, and that is, that there be an appropriation for the purpose of perpetuating the recipe for salt rising bread, against that contingency which may arise when I shall have yielded to the persuasion of my constituency and have become a candidate for governoress.

   • 1912 November 13, “What Will Hutchinson Be Like 500 Years from Now”, in The Hutchinson Daily Gazette, volume XI, number 142, section “Some Banana Orchards”, page five, column 1:

     Will the inhabitants of Kansas, if this state be in existence be worrying at that time over who is elected governor and will the candidates be claiming the state by so small a majority as both Hodges and Capper are now? This brings up the question, will it be a governor or governoress. Maybe Mesdames Smith and Jones will be quarreling over the result of their election, while their husbands fret over what they can wear at the times their spouses take charge of the highest place in the state.

   • [1920 August 31, “Woman Officers Next”, in Every Evening, volume LIV, number 196, Wilmington, Del., page 4:

     To whatever office a woman may be elected don’t let her election feminize the title of her post. For instance, if she should be elected as head of the State she would be a governor, not a governoress, nor would she be a sheriffess nor a judgess, just as in later day usage the woman physician is a doctor, not a doctoress as she used to be designated in the days when women were almost unknown to the professions; her title then was changed to fit the sex of the holder.]

   • 1924 August 27, The Bellingham Herald, volume XXXIV, number 237, Bellingham, Wash., page 6, column 2:

     WHEN “Ma” Ferguson becomes governor, governoress or governess of Texas some of them thar long-horns of the Harry Leon Wilson type may decide that Mexico is not so worse as a country to live in after all.

   • [1924 October 3, “The Junior Sun: Kracker Kolumn”, in The Harrison Sun, volume XXV, number 27, Harrison, Neb., front page, column 2:

     We will have to decide whether to call Mrs. Ferguson a governor or a governoress.]

   • 1928 May 30, “Small Town Talk”, in The Redwood Gazette, volume LIX, number 47, Redwood Falls, Minn., page two, column 2:

     Wouldn’t it be glorious if Redwood Falls’ valedictorian should become governor—or rather governoress, and the salutatorian should become United States Senator? Stranger things have happened.

   • 1950, Robert Graves, “The Eclipse”, in The Isles of Unwisdom, Cassell and Company Limited, page 321:

     A farewell volley was fired, and the pall-bearers returned to the Residency, to offer their condolences and homage to our She-Governor, or Governoress, who had not thought fit to display herself at the grave-side.

   • [1965 November 20, “Keeping It In The Family”, in The Daily Tar Heel, volume 74, number 58, Chapel Hill, N.C., page 2, column 1:

     But the most crucial problem, should she run and be elected, is this: What would you call her — Governor Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. Governor Wallace, Governoress Wallace or Lurleen?]

   • 1966 May 1, Claire Leeds, “Man and Woman Presidents?: A Theory of Balanced Government”, in San Francisco Examiner, volume 224, number 121, San Francisco, Calif., section “Women Today”, page 13:

     Miss [Ruth] St. Denis envisions a Mayor and a Mayoress for every town, a Governor and Governoress for every state, and ultimately, a man and woman President. Preferably, these dual leaders would not be married to each other.

   • 1966 May 14, Whitney M[oore] Young Jr., “To Be Equal: Negro Vote Heralds New Era in South”, in The Jersey Journal and Jersey Observer, 100th year, number 12, Jersey City, N.J., page 22, column 6:

     Although Alabama’s governor or governoress, as the case may be, won the Democratic primary, Negroes made substantial gains. Some Negro candidates made excellent showings, either winning local posts or forcing segregationists into runoffs.

   • 1972 January 13, The Odessa American, volume 47, number 13, Odessa, Tex., page 14-A:

     GOVERNORESS? — Rep. Frances Farenthold of Corpus Christi says she is thinking seriously about running for governor this year.

   • 1990 July 19, A. Ronald Reid, “Focus Should be on Issues”, in Albuquerque Journal, 110th year, number 200, Albuquerque, N.M.: Journal Publishing Co., page 4, column 3:

     The first Indian female governoress elected in the 200-year history has stimulated growth for the tribe’s future and also triggered ongoing barriers to services for the people. With the recent move by certain council members to oust the Governor one can see that factualism is a hot potato in the tribe. This embarrassing act to charge the Governoress with illegal cohabitation from the Isleta (sic) “Inquierers” has only served to highlight public issue in updating the ancient Law and Order Code that makes illicit cohabitation a tribal felony and to district off the community to have council members elected by the people to be more accountable for their actions to their constituency. It isn’t an easy task for the Governoress to live with over 200 years of paternalism, cultural taboos of the genders, nor for the community to make the transition. I applaud the Governoress in sticking to her guns while under fire from the OK Corral.

   • 1997 December 14, Frank G. Logan, “‘Gubernatorial’ is a wacky thing to call a governor”, in Home News Tribune, page I1, column 4:

     Our modern governors (even the current governoress) do not deserve to be belittled as some sort of “gubers.”

   • 2005 May 30, Orman Arnold, “New dividing line: An enthusiast”, in Tri-City Herald, page A12, column 4:

     The liberals in control now are just doing what they want. Let’s get things going and separate the states and maybe northern California might like to jump in also. We don’t even have a legal “governoress,” she just thinks she is.

   • [2007 January 3, Nicole Radzievich, “Women quietly gain on Bethlehem City Council”, in The Morning Call, page B5, column 4:

     Once elected, one of the first decisions was what to call [Dolores] Caskey. Madame Councilwoman? Gentle Lady? “I was a councilman. An equal,” Caskey said. “There was a female governor in Connecticut in the 1970s. No one called her Governoress Ella Oliva. She was governor.”]

3. (dated) The wife of a governor. [1820]

   Synonym: (dated) governess

   • 1820, chapter V, in De Clifford; or, Passion more Powerful than Reason. […], volume I, London: […] [T]he Minerva Press for A[nthony] K[ing] Newman and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 164–165:

     Colonel Braddyll, soon after his marriage, was chosen governor of ⸺, in India, and Mrs. Braddyll, as governoress, or governor’s lady, was in the height of her glory.

   • 1859 January 15, “The Lounger at the Clubs”, in The Illustrated Times Weekly Newspaper, volume VIII, number 198, London: Office, […], page 42, column 1:

     Perhaps this may be the result of the painful example afforded to the Prince of Wales in the person of his younger brother Alfred, a young gentleman for whom the aforesaid “liner” won all our sympathies by the description of the simplicity of his outfit and the ordinary naval-cadet life which he was going to lead, and whom we now find dancing with Lieutenant-Governoresses at balls, reviewing troops, dining at messes, and put through a course of flunkeydom sufficient to turn a much wiser head than is usually found on a boy of fifteen.

   • 1864 November 12, W[illia]m Thomas Newmarch, Letters Written Home in the Years 1864-5: Describing Residence in Canada, and Journeys to New York, Washington and the Pennsylvanian Oil Region, and a Visit to the Army of the Potomac; […], [London?]: [s.n.], published 1880, page 106:

     The Professor took me to the Governor’s house, the Governor was out, presiding at some meeting or other, but the Lady-Governor or Governoress, or whatever her title may be—(I am forgetting that the American Constitution does not mention titles; however, they have crept in, especially since the breaking out of the War, and now Generals, Colonels, Majors, Captains, &c. are all addressed according to their rank: the Senators are all called Honourables, in the same manner as the Members of the Upper Chambers in the various English Colonies.)—trotted me over her garden and kitchen garden, wherein flowers, shrubs, fruits and vegetables abounded in luxuriance.

   • 1869 March, “The Sumter and the Alabama”, in Colburn’s United Service Magazine, and Naval and Military Journal, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], pages 387–388:

     The Governor was a thin spare man, rather under the medium height, and of sprightly manners and conversation. […] As soon as I could find a little time to look around me, I discovered that her ladyship the Governoress, was a very sprightly mulatto, and that her two little children, who were brought to me with all due ceremony, to be praised, and have their heads patted, had rather kinky, or perhaps, I should say curly hair.

   • 1877, D[onald] Mackenzie Wallace, “The Towns and the Mercantile Classes”, in Russia, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, pages 177–178:

     A rich merchant of the town of T⁠⸺ once requested the Governor of the Province to honor a family festivity with his presence, and added that he would consider it a special favor if the “Governoress” would enter an appearance. To this latter request His Excellency made many objections, and at last let the petitioner understand that Her Excellency could not possibly be present, because she had no velvet dress that could bear comparison with those of several merchants’ wives who would be present.

   • 1877 November, Frank R[ichard] Stockton, “An Isle of June”, in J[osiah] G[ilbert] Holland, editor, Scribner’s Monthly, an Illustrated Magazine for the People, volume XV, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Scribner & Co., […], published 1878, page 30:

     I have never been in the habit of going about with governors’ wives to call upon queens, but on one fine Sunday afternoon, the wife of a governor—not the governor of the Bahamas—did take us to call upon a queen—not she of England, but one of undoubted royal blood. […] She did not seem to be able to talk much in English, for the governoress spoke to her in African and her majesty made a remark or two to us in that language.

   • 1878 May 11, “Personal”, in Harper’s Bazar. A Repository of Fashion, Pleasure, and Instruction., volume XI, number 19, New York, N.Y., page 299, column 3:

     Lady Dufferin has won a greater degree of popular regard in Canada than any previous Governoress-General.

   • 1883 January 12, James S[kipp] Borlase, “Darker than Death; a Tale of the Russia of To-day”, in The Hull Packet and East Riding Times, number 5,126, Kingston upon Hull, E.R.Y., chapter XVI (The Countess Takes Precautions and the Count Drives Bargains), page 3, column 3:

     Scarcely had she accomplished her task in its entirety, when the door opened, and the Governor-General of Odessa entered the room, looking cross and fussy. […] ‘Well, he said he hoped that the “Governoress” would accompany me.’

   • 1883 July 12, Goulburn Evening Penny Post, Goulburn, N.S.W., page 2, column 2:

     They have a good working Governor and Governoress in Western Australia. His Excellency at a ploughing match, her Excellency at a Temperance Meeting.

   • 1883 July 19, “Apache, Zuni and Ranger. The Strange Contrasts the Oldest American City Shows.”, in Markdale Standard, volume 3, number 45/149, Markdale, Ont., page [2], column 3:

     The afternoon was signalized by the arrival of the Governor of San Juan Pueblos, accompanied by his squaw and papoose. […] They were dressed in costume befitting their rant, the Governoress wearing a scarlet dress and ample hat of straw and the Governor’s leggins being nearly covered by a white shirt that would have held two of him.

   • 1883 December 12, “Local News”, in The Piqua Morning Call, volume 1, number 48, Piqua, Oh., page [4], column 1:

     There were some domestic difficulties the other night, at two different homes. Altercations between the governor and governoress in both instances, and, as luck would have it, the women came out ahead.

   • 1884, E[dward] F[rederick] Knight, “Chapter XVI. [Santiago del Estero.]”, in The Cruise of the “Falcon.” A Voyage to South America in a 30-Ton Yacht., volume I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, […], pages 268 and 271:

     This I have heard attributed to the revolutions, and to the sweeping conscriptions the tyrant governor of a province often decrees, in order to strengthen his personal power. […] But from the watch-tower of the city did the sentinel maiden perceive the four horsemen from a far country, and she reported us to the governoress, or governess.

   • 1884 March 25, The Birmingham Daily Post, volume XL, number 8,028, Birmingham, W.M., page 6, column 4:

     There will be on view to-day and to-morrow, at the Clydesdale Carriage-works, Broad Street, two very handsome dress landaus, which have been built for her Majesty the Queen of the Sandwich Islands and her Royal Highness the Governoress of Oabu.^{[sic – meaning Oahu]} […] The carriage of the governoress is painted green, with fine vermillion lines, and hears arms (a gun-sponge and motto) on the doors and hammer-cloth only.

   • 1885, Mrs. Forrester, “Retribution”, in Although He Was a Lord and Other Tales (Collection of British Authors, Tauchnitz Edition; volume 2327), Leipzig: [Christian] Bernhard Tauchnitz, pages 139–140:

     In the evening I have the happiness of sitting behind her chair in the Governor’s box at the theatre. […] I do not feel disposed to ask any questions, but devote myself entirely to the Governoress, who takes me over to the bathing-house in her boat.

   • 1886 January 2, Arthur Grey, “New Year’s Day Across the Atlantic”, in St. Stephen’s Review, number 147, page 13, column 1:

     A cat may look at a king even in Conservative England, but in the world beyond the seas the humblest clerk in the Civil Service may present himself at the residence of the Governoress-General on New Year’s Day.

   • 1893 November 25, ““The New ‘Governoress.’””, in The Isle of Man Times and General Advertiser, volume XXXIII, number 1,996, page 5, column 1:

     Lady J[oseph]. W[est]. Ridgeway, the new “Governoress” of the Isle of Man, is quite a Colleen, and full of spirit.

   • 1895 March 1, The Kansas Breeze, volume I, number 47, Topeka, Kan., page 7, column 3:

     Bent Murdock in the El Dorado Republican: Mrs. Marcia Gordon-Troutman [wife of James Armstrong Troutman] is a most charming Lieutenant-Governoress; […]

   • 1895 September 27, The New Zealand Mail, number 1230, Wellington, page 25, column 3:

     The Acting-Governoress, too, was very timid about approaching the restless prad, but secretary Clibborn’s assurances ultimately prevailed on her to just put the blue ribbon over Bob’s neck and even to pat him slightly.

   • 1895 November 30, Peggy, “Woman’s Column”, in The Freeman’s Journal, volume XLVI, number 2699, Sydney, N.S.W., page 9, column 2:

     Our new Governor’s daughter wore a simple gown of rich white satin. It is consoling to know that the new Governoress and her daughters don’t show symptoms of rushing us into unlimited extravagance in our efforts to keep pace with their millinery, and in this they earn the gratitude of every sensible woman who sees something more in daily life than a mad endeavour to outdress her neighbour.

   • 1896 August 6, P. Rompter, “Wellington Wing Whispers”, in Otago Witness, number 2214, Dunedin, Otago, page 39, column 3:

     Certainly no one is a whit the worse off for spending his 5s upon the Guvmentouse performance—and look how many people are made happy thereby: first, the amateur actors (ah, their pleasure is huge!), then the Governoress (she has the reward of lending her rooms “all for charity’s sake”), then the men and dogs and things that come within the scope of the entertainment’s good threefold object.

   • [1899], F[ather] Felix, The Shepherdess of Lourdes, or The Blind Princess: A Drama in Five Acts, 5th edition, Baltimore, Md.: John Murphy Company, […], page 33:

     And let me assure you, my Lady, that it will not be many, many months when her Ladyship, the Governoress of Hautes-Pyrenees, will send to this shrine a substantial contribution.

   • 1909 May 21, “Partisan Politics Not a Factor in the Disposition of High Judicial Offices; President Taft’s Significant Utterance in Charlotte Speech Yesterday”, in Charlotte Daily Observer, Charlotte, N.C., page 1, column 3:

     Another rather interesting bit of dialogue, specimen of that which passed back and forth during the hour and more the reception lasted, occurred when Governor Kitchin presented Mrs. Kitchin. “This is Mrs. Kitchin,” said he, “the Governoress of North Carolina.”

   • 1909 June 25, “Dramatic”, in Spokane Daily Chronicle, twenty-third year, number 257, Spokane, Wash., page 8, column 1:

     Ralston was out of his element in the part of the governor’s son, but his part is to be taken later on by Frank McQuarrie. The play could hardly have been written as a plea for woman suffrage, for the changing of a mother’s nature as brought out in the refusal of the governoress to pardon her boy, convicted of murder, did not convince. But the play is strong, has literary merit and dramatic effects that make it strong and convincing as a dramatic production. The governoress had a son who was dear to her.

   • 1909 December 10, “Cooking on the Governor’s Stove”, in The Sun, volume CXLVI, number 24, Baltimore, Md., page 4, column 3:

     Yet the Governor found himself helpless to aid. But the Governoress came to the rescue. The good wife remembered that the people of Kansas provided the mansion with an immense cook stove which burned only coal, and it gave her a great idea.

   • 1936 July 29, Virginia Woolf, “3157: To Jane Bussy”, in Nigel Nicolson, Joanne Trautmann, editors, Leave the Letters Till We’re Dead: The Letters of Virginia Woolf, volumes VI (1936–1941), London: The Hogarth Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 60:

     That reminds me—my old mother in law was here with the Governor and Governoress of Gambia [Southorns] the other day.

   • 1980 October 24, Tom McEwen, “M-A Is Back In Stride In Win Circle”, in The Tampa Tribune, 86th year, number 256, Tampa, Fla., page 1-C, column 1:

     “We have strong ties to all,” said Governoress [Adele Khoury] Graham.

   • 1980 November 26, Mary Fastenau, “Thanksgiving history lives”, in Journal and Courier, volume 61, number 331, Lafayette, Ind. – West Lafayette, Ind., page A-3, column 1:

     Gov. Bradford was also there. But history was rewritten with the “governoress” who wore a huge black paper stovepipe hat and blue jeans.

• This form, governoress, which seems to be first attested in 1820 (in sense 3), has never been standard in sense 1. In the obsolete form with e, governeress, used since Middle English (see governeresse), it seems to have been acceptable until the 17th century, being replaced with the contracted governess.
• In the “female governor” sense, this originally referred generally to any woman who ruled or governed. This sense is not attested with the -o- form, which specifically refers to a female chief executive officer of a first-level division of a country.