† clergessn.
Obsolete exc. Historical.
1. A female scholar, a learned woman.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > learned person, scholar > [noun] > female
clergess?c1225
scoleryng14..
mistressc1440
virtuosa1754
savante1764
bluestocking1786
literata1794
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 4 Sum is clergesse & sum nan.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xxi. 374 Morgne le fee, hir suster, that was so grete a clergesse.
2. A member of a female religious order.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > monasticism > nun > [noun]
nuneOE
sistereOE
minchenOE
nun-sisterOE
spousea1200
ladyc1275
religious1340
clergess1393
homely womana1400
monialc1400
moinesa1513
sanctimoniala1513
vowess1533
nosegent1567
votaress1589
votress1597
monkess1602
White Lady1606
cloistressa1616
sanctimony1630
religiosea1657
clergywoman1673
religieuse1682
religioso1708
vestal1717
1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 34 Though the clerke and the clergesse In latin tunge it rede and singe.
1888 J. Gillow Literary & Biogr. Hist. Eng. Catholics III. 197 She received the first habit of clergess on the feast of the Assumption.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.?c1225