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.
“What about the women?” she asked the professor, whereupon Campbell explained that the women were the hero’s mother, his protectress and the prize at the end of his quest.
From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2021
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
With terror in their hearts, 20,000 people paraded the streets carrying a picture of Holy Mary of Riplata, Cerignola's protectress, the while loudly imploring the saint to save the city from destruction.
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
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.
