Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Abbess |
AbbessNoun1. The superior of a group of nuns. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "abbess" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Dream Interpretation | For a young woman to dream that she sees an abbess, denotes that she will be compelled to perform distasteful tasks, and will submit to authority only after unsuccessful rebellion. To dream of an abbess smiling and benignant, denotes you will be surrounded by true friends and pleasing prospects. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Slang in 1811 | ABBESS, or LADY ABBESS, A bawd, the mistress of a brothel. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
An Abbess (Latin abbatissa, fem. form of abbas, abbot) is the female superior, or Mother Superior, of an abbey or convent of nuns.
The mode of election, position, rights and authority of an abbess correspond generally with those of an abbot. The office is elective, the choice being by the secret votes of the sisters from their own body. The abbess is solemnly admitted to her office by episcopal benediction, together with the conferring of a staff and pectoral cross, and holds for life, though liable to be deprived for misconduct. The council of Trent fixed the qualifying age at forty, with eight years of profession. Abbesses have a right to demand absolute obedience of their nuns, over whom they exercise discipline, extending even to the power of expulsion, subject, however, to the bishop. As a female an abbess is incapable of performing the spiritual functions of the priesthood belonging to an abbot. She cannot ordain, confer the veil, nor excommunicate. In England abbesses attended ecclesiastical councils, e.g. that of Becanfield in 694, where they signed before the presbyters.
By Celtic usage abbesses presided over joint-houses of monks and nuns. This custom accompanied Celtic monastic missions to France and Spain, and even to Rome itself. At a later period, A.D. 1115, Robert, the founder of Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon and Saumur, France committed the government of the whole order, men as well as women, to a female superior.
In the German Evangelical church the title of abbess (Äbtissin) has in some cases--e.g. Itzehoe--survived to designate the heads of abbeys which since the Protestant Reformation have continued as Stifte, i.e. collegiate foundations, which provide a home and an income for unmarried ladies, generally of noble birth, called canonesses (Kanonissinen) or more usually Stiftsdamen. This office of abbess is of considerable social dignity, and was sometimes filled by princesses of the reigning houses.
Source: An unnamed encyclopedia from a project that puts out-of-copyright texts onto the Internet. This is from a very old source, and reflects the thinking of about 1900 in the UK. -- BryceHarrington -- Jason Scribner
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Abbess."
Synonyms: AbbessSynonyms: mother superior (n), prioress (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Clergy | Abbess, prioress, canoness; religieuse, nun, novice, postulant. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Abbess |
| English words defined with "abbess": abbatial, abbey ♦ bride, Bridget, Brigid ♦ Cloister garth ♦ Pastoral staff ♦ Saint Bride, Saint Bridget, Saint Brigid, St Bride, St Bridget, St Brigid. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "abbess": COVENT GARDEN ABBESS ♦ LADY ABBESS. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The abbess, a phantom, sanctifies and terrifies them. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Abbess" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 76.47% of the time. "Abbess" is used about 51 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 76.47% | 39 | 55,036 |
| Noun (proper) | 23.53% | 12 | 101,599 |
| Total | 100.00% | 51 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
abbess | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "abbess"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaan | abdis. (various references) | |
Albanian | e para e murgeshave në një abaci. (various references) | |
Arabic | دير (abb, abbacy, abbey, cloister, convent, hermitage, monastery, priory). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | абатиса, игуменка (reverend mother). (various references) | |
Czech | abatyše. (various references) | |
Dutch | abdis. (various references) | |
Esperanto | abatino. (various references) | |
Farsi | رءیسه صومعه زنان تارک دنیا. (various references) | |
Finnish | abbedissa. (various references) | |
French | abbesse (abbot). (various references) | |
German | Abtissin, äbtissin. (various references) | |
Greek | ηγουμένη (abbot, mother superior). (various references) | |
Hungarian | apáca-fejedelemasszony, apácafőnöknő. (various references) | |
Irish | mÚthairab, ban-ab. (various references) | |
Italian | badessa. (various references) | |
Manx | moir abb, ben abb, ard-ven reill, ard-chaillagh ghoo, ard-chaillagh. (various references) | |
Norwegian | abbedisse. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | abbessay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | abadessa. (various references) | |
Romanian | stareţã (mother). (various references) | |
Russian | аббатиса (abbes). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | opatica. (various references) | |
Spanish | abadesa. (various references) | |
Swedish | abbedissa (mother). (various references) | |
Turkish | baş rahibe. (various references) | |
Ukranian | ігуменя. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | b trưởng tu viện (prioress). (various references) | |
Welsh | abades. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | abbatissa. (various references) |
| Old English | 450-1100 | abbudisse. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "abbess": abbesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Abbess" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: abass, abbas, abbass, Abbassy, abbcess, abbies, Abbiss, abces, abcess, abeb, abes, abess, abez, abiss, abness, aboss, absess, asbes, babassu, Ebbels. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-b-e-s-s" | |
-1 letter: abbes, babes, bases, sabes. | |
-2 letters: abbe, babe, base, bass, ebbs, sabe, sabs, seas. | |
-3 letters: abs, ass, bas, ebb, ess, sab, sae, sea. | |
-4 letters: ab, ae, as, ba, be, es. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-b-e-s-s" | |
+1 letter: subbase. | |
+2 letters: abbesses, babesias, barbless, nabobess, scabbles, slabbers, stabbers, subbases, swabbers, swabbies, tabbises. | |
+3 letters: absorbers, baseballs, bubalises, reabsorbs, scabbiest, scrabbles, shabbiest, squabbles, subbasses. | |
+4 letters: absorbents, babesioses, babesiosis, barbascoes, baseboards, embossable, flabbiness, nabobesses, scrabblers, semblables, shabbiness, squabbiest, squabblers, subsumable. | |
+5 letters: absorbances, babysitters, barbershops, basketballs, breastbones, crabbedness, observables, scrabbliest, subassembly, subbasement, subbranches, suburbanise. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 62 62 65 73 73 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
|
| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
|
| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
|
Morse Code (1836) (references).- -... -... . ... ... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01100010 01100010 01100101 01110011 01110011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A b b e s s |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0062 0062 0065 0073 0073 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
|
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)356868718585 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Translations: Ancient 10. Derivations 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
