benefactress

American  

[ben-uh-fak-tris, ben-uh-fak-] / ˈbɛn əˌfæk trɪs, ˌbɛn əˈfæk- /

noun

1. a woman who confers a benefit, bequest, endowment, or the like.

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Gender

What's the difference between benefactress and benefactor? See -ess.

Etymology

Origin of benefactress

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English benefactrice; benefactor + -ess

Example Sentences

But it’s insulting that we never get a sense of Abdul’s deeper motivations, the desires that lurk beneath his smiling, unquestioning devotion to his benefactress.

From Los Angeles Times

For dinner, my benefactress and I wound up at one of the city’s trendiest restaurants, Sushi Nakazawa, in the West Village.

From Washington Post

Soon Grover is settled in Anne’s guest cottage and impressing his benefactress with his impeccable manners and mad skills with begonias.

From New York Times

Starting in the 1850s, when the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association turned his Virginia estate into a museum, benefactresses donated antiques they described as giving a “cheerful appearance” to rooms that had looked “desolate and forlorn.”

From New York Times

One is between the heroine and her former tutor, now Mrs Weston, and the other when Harriet kisses her benefactress’s hand.

From The Guardian