protectress
Americannoun
Gender
See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of protectress
First recorded in 1560–70; protect(o)r + -ess
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The most urgent painting here is one of the Met’s very first purchases: Anthony van Dyck’s “Saint Rosalia,” vanquisher of a 17th-century epidemic, whom I’ve adopted as my Covid protectress.
From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2020
Van Dyck — meeting the new demand, and not a little grateful himself — takes a half-finished self-portrait, slathers it with primer and paints the new protectress, floating gloriously over the illness-ravaged port town.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2020
One protectress of the healing arts in a 19th-century painting rides a nine-headed bird through the sky.
From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2014
A garden was the traditional home of Venus; the peacocks may refer to Juno, the protectress of marriage, and the ivy behind the young woman could be the symbol of fidelity.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like a good huntsman, she was careful to preserve the young; she was “the protectress of dewy youth” everywhere.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
