English

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Etymology

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From princess +‎ -ship.

Noun

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princessship (plural not attested)

  1. The dignity, rank, or office of a princess.
    • 1767, Henry Fielding, The Works of Henry Fielding: In Twelve Volumes, with the Life of the Author, volume 3, page 273:
      Dor. I have been told, noble Squire, that you once impos’d a certain lady for Dulcinea on your maſter; now what think you if this young lady here ſhould perſonate that incomparable princeſs? / Jez. Who, I? / San. Adod! your princeſsſhip has hit it; for he has never ſeen this Dulcinea, nor has any body elſe, that I can hear of;
    • 1826, Specimens of German Romance: Master Flea:
      [] I cannot get in, as the door is barred and bolted, and I am too mild to employ force; but I have taken the liberty to torment her a little with my optical glass, that she may know I am her lord and master in spite of her imaginary princess-ship.”
    • 1872, Helen Cameron: from Grub to Butterfly, volume 1, page 86:
      In the masterless state of her heart, she might have deemed the princess(-)ship tempting enough to warrant the venture.
    • 1875, Blackwood's Magazine, volume 118, page 144:
      Nan gets out unassisted, feeling severely that her days of princess(-)ship are over; and she has redeemed her box, and the train is off again ere any one asks whither she is going.
    • 1881, Mary Cowden Clarke, Honey from the Weed: Verses, Paul, Charles Kegan, page 208:
      Farewell! Success attend you all! But now / I drop my royal princessship to bow / Before our friends, and humbly crave for leave / To speak the Epilogue, which may receive / Acceptance as the substituted close / To this our acted play []
    • 1921, Margaret Piper Chalmers, Wild Wings: A Romance of Youth, page 348:
      On the strength of her presumable princessship she had gone on another excursion to Boston carrying the Lambert twins with her this time and had returned laden with all manner of feminine fripperies.
    • 1962, Mary Milbank Brown, The Secret History of Jeanne D'Arc: Princess, Maid of Orleans:
      The cautious woman alert to her queenship began to supersede the gentle girl of the princessship.
    • 1997 September 6, Kurt Ullman, “Re: A disrespect to Diana”, in uk.politics.constitution (Usenet), message-ID <19970906011501.VAA20920@ladder02.news.aol.com>:
      Di, in the divorce settlement, gave up her princessship (is that a word?), despite what the press and everyone else said.