aldermanessn.
/ˌɔːldəməˈnɛs/, /ˌɒldəməˈnɛs/, U.S. /ˈɔldərmənəs/, /ˈɑldərmənəs/ An alderman's wife. Cf. aldress n., alderwoman n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > magistrate > municipal magistrate > [noun] > alderman > wife of
aldress1541
alderwoman1557
aldermaness1836
1836 Leicester Chron. 6 Feb. 3/4 He..overheard an Ex-Aldermaness relate to a friend a curious dream which broke the rest of her ‘better half’ on the previous night.
1838 R. H. Barham Mr. Barney Maguire's Hist. Coronation in Belfast News Let. 14 Aug. 4/1 With the swate Peeresses..And Aldermanesses and the Boord of Works.
1859 W. Kelly Life in Victoria II. iii. 62 ‘Take an old hand's advice’, interposed the aldermaness, giving a suggestive pluck to Lady Hotham's gown, ‘an' try a brandy cocktail.’
1915 S. Gwynn Famous Cities Ireland x. 295 The aldermen were admittedly great personages,..but they were absolute enough to leave blank acts of commitment with their wives so that the aldermaness might, unchecked, send a citizen to prison.
2003 R. Sweet in R. Sweet & P. Lane Women & Urban Life Eighteenth-cent. Eng. ii. 32 Judith Milbanke, wife of Ralph Milbanke MP, inveterate snob and social climber, used to complain..of the tedium of entertaining the aldermanesses of Newcastle to tea.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1836