postmistressn.
/ˈpəʊs(t)ˌmɪstrᵻs/, U.S. /ˈpoʊs(t)ˌmɪstrᵻs/ A woman in charge of a post office.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > official of the post
postmaster1513
post-officer1669
postmistress1697
1697 London Gaz. No. 3299/4 Whoever gives notice of him..to the Post-Mistress of York,..shall be Rewarded to Content.
1745 Duke of Richmond Let. 11 Dec. in Corr. Dukes of Richmond & Newcastle (1984) 197 Enclosed is a copy of intelligence from the post mistress at Warrington.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary I. xv. 317 ‘Tell her’, said the faithful postmistress,..‘to come back the morn at ten o'clock, and I'll let her ken—we have na had time to sort the mail letters yet.’
1905 N.Y. Evening Post 27 Oct. 6 He [sc. President Roosevelt] had closed a Mississippi post-office because some whites had made trouble for the colored postmistress.
1995 Esquire July 73/2 When I was twenty-eight, four or five years after I quit playing music, I married a postmistress.
Derivatives
ˈpost-ˌmistress-ship n. rare the office of postmistress.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > [noun] > post office > office of
postmastershipa1603
postmaster-generalship1822
post-mistress-ship1867
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > official of the post > office of
postmastershipa1603
post-mistress-ship1867
1867 Contemp. Rev. 5 106 Women were consequently excluded from post-mistress-ships in large towns.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1697