Matron

//ˈmeɪtɹən// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A mature or elderly woman, especially one of a higher social rank.

    "grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a matron before she was a mother"

  2. 2
    a married woman (usually middle-aged with children) who is staid and dignified wordnet
  3. 3
    A mature or elderly woman, especially one of a higher social rank.; A woman with the character of a mother or matriarch.

    "But there’s no bottome, none / In my Voluptuouſneſſe : Your Wiues, your Daughters, / Your Matrons, and your Maides, could not fill vp / The Ceſterne of my Luſt, and my Deſire / All continent Impediments would ore-beare / That did oppoſe my will."

  4. 4
    a woman in charge of nursing in a medical institution wordnet
  5. 5
    A mature or elderly woman, especially one of a higher social rank.; A woman in charge of the domestic arrangements of an establishment or institution, especially, the nursing officer or chief nurse of a hospital.

    "the matron of a school or hospital"

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    a wardress in a prison wordnet
  2. 7
    A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children.

    "Roman matrons, sexually exhausted, were fond of trout caught in a little stream in the Vosges Mountains."

  3. 8
    A housekeeper, especially, a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public institution.
  4. 9
    A female prison officer. US

Etymology

From Middle English matrone, from Old French matrone, from Latin mātrōna (“married woman”), from māter (“mother”). Doublet of matrona.

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