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A woman in love; a mistress. "The fair inamorata." Sherburne.

To have in one's service; to have and maintain, as an assistant, a servant, a mistress, a horse, etc. I keep but three men and a boy. Shak.

of Keep. Kept mistress, a concubine; a woman supported by a man as his paramour.

A woman who looks after the domestic affairs of a family; a mistress; the female head of a household. Agar, the handmaiden of Sara, whence comest thou, and whither goest thou The which answered, Fro the face of Sara my lady. Wyclif (Gen. xvi. 8.).

A sweetheart or mistress.

The mistress of an inn or lodging house.

A sweetheart, of either sex; a gallant, or a mistress; -- usually in a bad sense. [Archaic] Chaucer. Spenser. Shak.

one. Hakewill. And the largest lamp is lit. Macaulay. Absence might cure it, or a second mistress Light up another flame, and put out this. Addison.

Languishing with love or amorous desire; as, a love-sick maid. To the dear mistress of my love-sick mind. Dryden.

the babe). The Italian painters are noted for drawing the Madonnas by their own wives or mistresses. Rymer.

Mistress. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Mistress. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Lady; mistress; -- used by Hindustani-speaking natives in India in addressing European women.

title of courtesy prefixed to the name of a girl or a woman who has not been married. See Mistress, 5.

A mistress; a wife; -- so used by the illiterate. G. Eliot.

The customary abbreviation of Mistress when used as a title of courtesy, in writing and printing.

Above all others; particularly. [Obs.] His most only elected mistress. Marston.

To exceed in the number of mistresses. [R.] Shak.

A lover, of either sex; a wooer or a mistress (formerly in a good sense, now only in a bad one); one who takes the place, without possessing the rights, of a husband or wife; -- used of a man or a woman. The seducer appeared with dauntless front, accompanied by his paramour Macaulay.

killing a person to whom the offender owed duty or subjection, as one's husband, master, mistress, etc. The crime is now not distinguished from murder.