LekhoriLekhoriA female superior or governess of a nunnery, or convent of nuns, having the same authority over the nuns which the abbots have over the monks.
The abbess was always after the nuns to keep the convent immaculately clean.
A woman who runs a brothel; a woman employed by a prostitute to find clients.
Why laſt night, as Colonel Kill'em, Sir William Weezy, Lord Frederick Foretop, and I were careleſsly ſliding the Ranelagh round, picking our teeth, after a damn'd muzzy dinner at Boodle's, who ſhould trip by but an abbeſs, well known about town, with a ſmart little nun in her ſuite.
From Middle English abbesse, from Old French abeesse (French abbesse), from Late Latin or Ecclesiastical Latin abbatissa, feminine of Latin abbas, abbatis (“abbot”).
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