proprietress

[pruh-prahy-i-tris]

noun

1. a woman who owns a business establishment.

2. a woman who has the exclusive right or title to something.

Gender Note

See -ess.

Word History and Origins

Origin of proprietress¹

First recorded in 1685–95; propriet(o)r + -ess

Example Sentences

“Show me yours, I’ll show you mine” is the ethos of the Broken Hearts Gallery, espoused by its proprietress.

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Allan said Theatre’s turned out to be an Irish pub, with wonderful food and a lovely proprietress who was very kind to the awkward young American.

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The star of “Mean Girls” is now the proprietress of “Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club” on the Greek island of Mykonos in this new reality series.

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The proprietress’s grandiose ideas about what she will do for her guests take up significant space, too.

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At first he could get nowhere, in rooms where the proprietress would enter during the best moments of love and make all sorts of comments about the intimate charms of the protagonists.

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