taskmistress

[ task-mis-tris, tahsk- ]
See synonyms for taskmistress on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a woman whose function it is to assign tasks, especially burdensome ones, to others.

  2. a woman who supervises others' work rigorously.

Origin of taskmistress

1
First recorded in 1595–1605; task + mistress

usage note For taskmistress

See -ess.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use taskmistress in a sentence

  • For to-day, London, so long his task-mistress and gaoler, had assumed a new attitude towards him.

    The Far Horizon | Lucas Malet
  • Indispensable though he was to his task-mistress, he yet, as in former days, vexed her.

  • She seems to stand to him rather in the position of a task-mistress than of a beneficent Being, ministering to his wants.

    The Roman Poets of the Republic | William Young Sellar
  • She had been a hard task-mistress, but he loved her, and to win her would gladly have sold his soul to the Prince of Darkness.

    Miss Hildreth, Volume 1 of 3 | Augusta de Grasse Stevens
  • You are very pretty, you know, and I expect you made a charming task-mistress.

    The Lady of the Basement Flat | Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey