head womann.
/ˌhɛd ˈwʊmən/, U.S. /ˈhɛd ˈwʊmən/ 1. The female head or most senior woman of a tribe, village, clan, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > rule or government of family or tribe > head of family, tribe, or clan > [noun] > female
chieftainessc1410
chiefess1778
head woman1791
chieftess1876
1791 J. Matthews Voy. River Sierra-Leone (new ed.) p. v Ya Ma Cooba is considered as the queen, or head woman, of the few inhabitants resident in the bay.
1819 Panoplist June 245 The head-woman had boiled for us a dish of rice... We gave her a small present, as we had before done to the head man.
1849 Graham's Mag. Apr. 250/1 I opened suddenly upon the head woman of a gipsy tribe, as I was passing through a small piece of woodland.
1877 J. Gomer Let. May in D. K. Flickinger Ethiopia (1878) 229 The head-woman for these parts..is a faithful member of our church.
1934 Boys' Life May 12/1 The woman died and the boy was raised by the Caciqua, head woman of the tribe.
1996 B. Maracle Back on Rez ii. v. 23 Under the Great Law [of the Iroquois], each clan is represented by a chief who is appointed by the head woman, the clanmother.
2012 R. D. Forehand Trail of Old Ones xxi. 421 She spoke softly and clearly. ‘I am the Head Woman of the Satschwa. My mother was Head Woman before me, as was her mother.’
2. A woman in charge of a household, department, institution, etc.; the most important woman in a group, business, or organization.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > control > person in control > [noun] > one who is in charge
gaffera1658
old man1668
governor1783
head woman1799
boss1806
oyakata1818
guv'nor1843
head-worker1846
jossc1860
Guv1861
Maluka1905
big guy1921
skip1921
kingfish1930
boss-man1934
pitch-and-toss1942
honcho1945
head honcho1952
1799 E. Meeke Ellesmere IV. viii. 239 She came to ask..whether she ought, in conformity to Lady Ormond's head woman's advice, to be married in white.
1840 Brit. Critic 28 352 She keeps the shop at the corner, and is the head woman at the new meeting in Russell Street.
1885 Househ. Words 21 Mar. 410/1 Now she was head woman of her college, with a glorious prospect..opened out before her.
1901 Cassell's Mag. Jan. 203 It's very seldom anyone is head woman at twenty, and I'm only just twenty. But dressmaking comes natural-like to some people.
1975 Jackie 15 Feb. 13/4 Bormir..was thinking of making her head-woman to his estate, which was something never done with girls.
2008 W. Kane in J. Smyth Critically Engaged Learning 93 Olive Kennedy and Molly Ward, who was head woman of one of the agencies,..spent two years in setting this up to make sure that residents were involved.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1791