marchioness

English edit

From Medieval Latin marchionissa, feminine form of marchion, from Late Latin marcha, from Frankish *markōn (“to mark, mark out, to press with the foot”), from Proto-Germanic *markō (“area, region, edge, rim, border”).

(maid-of-all-work): After a character in Charles Dickens' novel The Old Curiosity Shop.

marchioness (plural marchionesses)

The wife of a marquess.
- 1941 January, the late John Phillimore, “The Forth Bridge 1890-1940”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:
  The first train over the bridge was driven by the Marchioness of Tweeddale, and the engine was No. 602 of the North British Railway Company.
A woman holding the rank of marquess in her own right.
(slang, obsolete) An old-fashioned maid-of-all-work; female servant.
- 1896, The Chautauquan, volume 22, page 382:
  The beauty and charm of the little marchioness and the tender hearted old colored man, with their mutual affection, forcibly remind the reader of "Uncle Tom" and "Eva."

wife of a marquess