pythoness

American  

[pahy-thuh-nis, pith-uh-] / ˈpaɪ θə nɪs, ˈpɪθ ə- /

noun

1. a woman believed to be possessed by a soothsaying spirit, as the priestess of Apollo at Delphi.

2. a woman who practices divination.

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pythoness British  

/ ˈpaɪθəˌnɛs /

noun

1. a woman, such as Apollo's priestess at Delphi, believed to be possessed by an oracular spirit

2. a female soothsayer

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Gender

See -ess.

Etymology

Origin of pythoness

1325–75; python ² + -ess; replacing Middle English phytonesse < Middle French

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pythoness

Against this doom Genevi�ve Tabouis, ex-political pythoness of Paris' Leftist L'Oeuvre, for seven years waged a one-woman struggle, of which these memoirs are a record.

From Time Magazine Archive

The vision of the beautiful pythoness had deeply and powerfully affected the soul of Montezuma; and her closing appeal moved him even to tears.

From Sketches of Aboriginal Life American Tableaux, No. 1 by Vide, V. V.

Thereafter, Storri was no sooner in the Harley house when, presto! from over the way our pythoness sweeps in.

From The President A novel by Lewis, Alfred Henry

"Humph!" thought I to myself; "where is the grand indignant pythoness, with the unspeakable wrath and menace in her countenance, whom I saw when I first entered the room?"

From The Leavenworth Case by Green, Anna Katharine

To natural madness, to poetry and the other gifts allied to it, to prophecy like that of the Delphic pythoness, he has to add, fourthly, the "enthusiasm of the ideas."

From Plato and Platonism by Pater, Walter