canoness
English edit
Etymology edit
canon + -ess. Compare Latin canonissa.
Noun edit
canoness (plural canonesses)
- (dated) A woman who holds a canonry in a conventual chapter.
Usage notes edit
A regular canoness was bound by the vow of poverty, and observed a strict rule of life. A secular canoness was allowed to hold private property and bound only by vows of chastity and obedience so long as she chose to remain in the chapter.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “canoness”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Translations edit
woman who holds a canonry
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