Definition of mistress

• n. - A woman having power, authority, or ownership; a woman who exercises authority, is chief, etc.; the female head of a family, a school, etc.
• n. - A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it.
• n. - A woman regarded with love and devotion; she who has command over one's heart; a beloved object; a sweetheart.
• n. - A woman filling the place, but without the rights, of a wife; a concubine; a loose woman with whom one consorts habitually.
• n. - A title of courtesy formerly prefixed to the name of a woman, married or unmarried, but now superseded by the contracted forms, Mrs., for a married, and Miss, for an unmarried, woman.
• n. - A married woman; a wife.
• n. - The old name of the jack at bowls.
• v. i. - To wait upon a mistress; to be courting.