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

"It's ready, Berlusconi will decide when to broadcast it and I think it is absolutely imminent," Daniela Santanche, a deputy nicknamed "the pythoness" for her fierce devotion to the media billionaire, told a news conference.

From Reuters

Liszt's attitude at the piano, like that of a pythoness, has been remarked again and again.

From Project Gutenberg

The scene in the glen, the image of the unprepossessing and mysterious pythoness, and the substance and manner of the sinister warning she communicated, were indeed fixed in her memory ineffaceably.

From Project Gutenberg

Thereupon ensued a hideous war; a yelling as of the evil demons with which the pythoness pretended to be familiar; unintelligible to vulgar ears; requiring an interpreter from the oyster-quays.

From Project Gutenberg

Not a trace of the sacred madness that uplifted the Delphian pythoness or provoked the delirious visions of a Jeremiah or an Ezekiel!

From Project Gutenberg