matron
- a married woman, especially one who is mature and staid or dignified and has an established social position.
- a woman who has charge of the domestic affairs of a hospital, prison, or other institution.
- a woman serving as a guard, warden, or attendant for women or girls, as in a prison.
Origin of matron
Related Words for matron
dowager, housekeeper, matriarch, biddy, administrator, superintendent, wife, mother, lady, dame, housemotherExamples from the Web for matron
Contemporary Examples of matron
Ted Lindsay, Reggie Sinclair, and Marty Pavelich of the Red Wings, were ushers, and Ted's wife, Pat, was matron of honor.
He asked why it was that Saldanha "was placed in a position in a matron office to be receiving calls from outside agencies".
Historical Examples of matron
That matron, like most Grecian women, was ignorant of her own written language.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
Never ought so worthy, so valuable a matron to be lost to the world.
Gomez AriasJoaqun Telesforo de Trueba y Coso
She reported to the matron that Mary was not neat and quarrelled all the time.
Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The SearchlightMathew Joseph Holt
And the matron—not Miss Coffin, but the other one—called me 'Maggie.'
Thankful's InheritanceJoseph C. Lincoln
On a morning in August the matron's report had closed with a startling item.
The ChristianHall Caine
matron
- a married woman regarded as staid or dignified, esp a middle-aged woman with children
- a woman in charge of the domestic or medical arrangements in an institution, such as a boarding school
- US a wardress in a prison
- British the former name for the administrative head of the nursing staff in a hospitalOfficial name: nursing officer
Word Origin for matron
Word Origin and History for matron
late 14c., "married woman" (usually one of rank), from Old French matrone "married woman; elderly lady; patroness; midwife," and directly from Latin matrona "married woman, wife, matron," from mater (genitive matris) "mother" (see mother (n.1)). Sense of "female manager of a school, hospital, etc." first recorded 1550s.