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A lady; mistress. [India]

A schoolmistress.

A schoolmistress. [Colloq.U.S.]

rs; it is understood as true; it is said. A prince of Italy, it seems, entertained his misstress on a great lake. Addison.

Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; extreme; as, severe pain, anguish, fortune; severe cold.

The quality or power of distressing or paining; extreme degree; extremity; intensity; inclemency; as, the severity of pain or anguish; the severity of cold or heat; the severity of the winter.

A seamstress. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Very trying to the feelings; pierching; keen; severe; painful; distressing; as, sharp pain, weather; a sharp and frosty air. Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. Shak. The morning sharp and clear. Cowper. In sharpest perils faithful proved. Keble.

to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact; -- also called shearing stress, and tangential stress.

A seamstress. [Obs.] Caxton.

To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to contrive; to manage. Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave their companions to schift as well as they can. L'Estrange.

retire, as from danger; to decline action from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress. What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right. Pope. They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task. Jowett (Thucyd.)

d friend There's nobody loves you better than I. Arbuthnot. The embarrassed look of shy distress And maidenly shamefacedness. Wordsworth.

A songstress. [Obs.] Wyclif.

A songstress. [Obs.] Wyclif.

A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [Obs.] Pain and distress, sickness and ire, And melancholy that angry sire, Be of her palace senators. Rom. of R.

es to a woman. In sililoquies often preceded by ah. Not used in the plural. "Ah, sirrah mistress." Beau & Fl. Go, sirrah, to my cell. Shak.

Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. In business of mirth and of solace. Chaucer. The proper solaces of age are not music and compliments, but wisdom and devotion. Rambler.

Severe; afflictive; distressing; as, a sore disease; sore evil or calamity. Shak.

Full of sorrow; exhibiting sorrow; sad; dejected; distressed. "This sorrowful prisoner." Chaucer. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Matt. xxvi. 38.