marchioness

• (marquess): marquise

From Medieval Latin marchionissa, feminine form of marchion, from Late Latin marcha, from Frankish *markōn (“to mark, mark out, to press with the foot”), from Proto-Germanic *markō (“area, region, edge, rim, border”).

(maid-of-all-work): After a character in Charles Dickens' novel The Old Curiosity Shop.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹʃənɪs/, /mɑɹʃəˈnɛs/

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marchioness (plural marchionesses)

1. The wife of a marquess.
   • 1941 January, the late John Phillimore, “The Forth Bridge 1890-1940”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:

     The first train over the bridge was driven by the Marchioness of Tweeddale, and the engine was No. 602 of the North British Railway Company.

2. A woman holding the rank of marquess in her own right.
3. (slang, obsolete) An old-fashioned maid-of-all-work; female servant.
   • 1896, The Chautauquan, volume 22, page 382:

     The beauty and charm of the little marchioness and the tender hearted old colored man, with their mutual affection, forcibly remind the reader of "Uncle Tom" and "Eva."

• marquise

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

• monarchises