agentessn.
/ˌeɪdʒənˈtɛs/, /ˈeɪdʒəntᵻs/, U.S. /ˈeɪdʒən(t)əs/ rare.
A female agent.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > delegated authority > one having delegated or derived authority > [noun] > one who acts for another > female
factrix1584
procuratrix1584
factoress1603
agentess1757
1757 H. Walpole Let. 4 Aug. in Private Corr. (1820) II. 31 I shall to-morrow deliver to your agentess, Mrs. Moreland—something—to send you.
1908 Railroad Telegrapher Dec. 2111/1 Miss M. N. Corts, ‘agentess’ at Karns, is off, visiting relatives in the Northwest.
1996 Washingtonian (Nexis) Feb. 60 The KGB agentess—if, indeed, she was that—departed with a suitcase full of sheer underthings.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1757