Compositress
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Female equivalent of compositor. dated, feminine, form-of
"Now beſides Sappho, we read of many others of that Sex famous for Learning, as Demophila the Pamphylian’s Wife whom Apollonius here mentions; Proba the Roman Conſul’s Wife, who (A. D. 424.) wrote in Heroick Verſe the Contents of the Old and New Teſtament, ſo far as the deſcending of the Holy Ghoſt; Corinna, who was Ovid’s Beloved; Elpia, the Wife of Boetius; Polla, Wife to Lucan the Poet, who often help’d her Husband in the compoſure of his Pharſalia; Lesbia, Miſtreſs to Catullus; Cornificia, the Roman Poeteſs; Thesbia, the Compoſitreſs of Epigrams; and the other famous Poeteſs Corinna, who five times vanquiſh’d Pindar in the Poetical Art, wherein he had challenged her to contend in the City of Thebes; neither muſt we here omit the late ingenious Mrs. Phillips, our Engliſh Sappho."
Example
More examples"Now beſides Sappho, we read of many others of that Sex famous for Learning, as Demophila the Pamphylian’s Wife whom Apollonius here mentions; Proba the Roman Conſul’s Wife, who (A. D. 424.) wrote in Heroick Verſe the Contents of the Old and New Teſtament, ſo far as the deſcending of the Holy Ghoſt; Corinna, who was Ovid’s Beloved; Elpia, the Wife of Boetius; Polla, Wife to Lucan the Poet, who often help’d her Husband in the compoſure of his Pharſalia; Lesbia, Miſtreſs to Catullus; Cornificia, the Roman Poeteſs; Thesbia, the Compoſitreſs of Epigrams; and the other famous Poeteſs Corinna, who five times vanquiſh’d Pindar in the Poetical Art, wherein he had challenged her to contend in the City of Thebes; neither muſt we here omit the late ingenious Mrs. Phillips, our Engliſh Sappho."
Etymology
From compositor + -ess.
More for "compositress"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.