What does "manstress" mean?

A male equivalent of "mistress"; a male object of one's affections who lies outside of one's primary relationship.

What is a synonym for "manstress"?

Common synonyms include: boy toy.

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Noun

1
A male equivalent of "mistress"; a male object of one's affections who lies outside of one's primary relationship. slang
"Tom and Nicole had been married for several years, but it was well known that she was keeping a manstress on the side."

"Tom and Nicole had been married for several years, but it was well known that she was keeping a manstress on the side."

Blend of man + mistress, not attested before 1980.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.