taskmistress
Americannoun
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a woman whose function it is to assign tasks, especially burdensome ones, to others.
-
a woman who supervises others' work rigorously.
Gender
See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of taskmistress
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.
In the sweeping Scottish Highlands, Claudia Winkleman has played taskmistress for three weeks over an ever-shrinking band of players stationed at Ardross Castle.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2022
This description probably makes Ho sound like a taskmistress – an approachable one, but a drill coach more than the life coach that she is.
From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2022
Uncle Clifford is a taskmistress, but she minds her dancers less in the way of a madam than a mother hen.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2022
Ivana Trump was an immigrant from communist Czechoslovakia and a taskmistress who would not brook dissent.
From Time ● Nov. 29, 2
Humanity, her husband's faithful taskmistress, had not yet set her to work, and the long hours of his service left her lonely, and—the babies once in bed—at a loss.
From Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910 by Elliott, Maud Howe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
