mistershipn.
Compositorial misreading of mistress-ship n.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > courtesy > courteous forms of address or title > [noun] > for woman
mistress?a1425
your (also occasionally thy) mistress-ship?1461
sir1578
goodwife1593
metresse1600
metreza1604
sirrah1604
mistershipa1616
Mrsa1637
ma'am1671
citess1793
Mis'1835
mem1890
a1616 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus (1623) iv. iv. 40 How now good fellow, would'st thou speake with vs? Clow. Yea forsooth, and your Mistership [1594 Mistriship] be Emperiall.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
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n.a1616