n. A female ancestor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A female baker. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a woman who trains ballet dancers. [ PJC ]

n. A nun. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. destresse, distresse, OF. destresse, destrece, F. détresse, OF. destrecier to distress, (assumed) LL. districtiare, fr. L. districtus, p. p. of distringere. See Distrain, and cf. Stress. ] 1. Extreme pain or suffering; anguish of body or mind; as, to suffer distress from the gout, or from the loss of friends. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not fearing death nor shrinking for distress. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which occasions suffering; painful situation; misfortune; affliction; misery. [ 1913 Webster ]

Affliction's sons are brothers in distress. Burns. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A state of danger or necessity; as, a ship in distress, from leaking, loss of spars, want of provisions or water, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) (a) The act of distraining; the taking of a personal chattel out of the possession of a wrongdoer, by way of pledge for redress of an injury, or for the performance of a duty, as for nonpayment of rent or taxes, or for injury done by cattle, etc. (b) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction. Bouvier. Kent. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abuse of distress. (Law) See under Abuse.

Syn. -- Affliction; suffering; pain; agony; misery; torment; anguish; grief; sorrow; calamity; misfortune; trouble; adversity. See Affliction. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Distressed p. pr. & vb. n. Distressing. ] [ Cf. OF. destrecier. See Distress, n. ] 1. To cause pain or anguish to; to pain; to oppress with calamity; to afflict; to harass; to make miserable. [ 1913 Webster ]

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. 2 Cor. iv. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To compel by pain or suffering. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men who can neither be distressed nor won into a sacrifice of duty. A. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) To seize for debt; to distrain.

Syn. -- To pain; grieve; harass; trouble; perplex; afflict; worry; annoy. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. facing or experiencing financial trouble or difficulty; as, distressed companies need loans and technical advice.
Syn. -- hard-pressed, hard put, in a bad way(predicate), in trouble(predicate). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. experienceing a generalized feeling of distress. Also See: dejected, unhappy, sad. Antonym: euphoric.
Syn. -- dysphoric, unhappy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. suffering severe physical strain or discomfort; as, he dropped out of the race, clearly distressed and having difficulty breathing.
Syn. -- stressed, in a bad way(predicate). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. emotionally upset.
Syn. -- unstrung. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A state of being distressed or greatly pained. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of distress; causing, indicating, or attended with, distress; as, a distressful situation. “Some distressful stroke.” Shak. “Distressful cries.” Pope.
Syn. -- distressing. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Dis*tress"ful*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. the quality of causing mental anguish.
Syn. -- seriousness. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

adv. In a distressing manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Causing distress; painful; unpleasant. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ For fosteress. ] A woman who feeds and cherishes; a nurse. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A female huckster. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ LL. impostrix. See Impostor. ] A woman who imposes upon or deceives others. [ R. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Mistress. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Mistress. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. L. ministrix. ] A woman who ministers. Akenside. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To wait upon a mistress; to be courting. [ Obs. ] Donne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. maistress, OF. maistresse, F. maîtresse, LL. magistrissa, for L. magistra, fem. of magister. See Master, Mister, and cf. Miss a young woman. ] 1. A woman having power, authority, or ownership; a woman who exercises authority, is chief, etc.; the female head of a family, a school, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

The late queen's gentlewoman! a knight's daughter!
To be her mistress' mistress! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it. [ 1913 Webster ]

A letter desires all young wives to make themselves mistresses of Wingate's Arithmetic. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A woman regarded with love and devotion; she who has command over one's heart; a beloved object; a sweetheart. [ Poetic ] Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A woman filling the place, but without the rights, of a wife; a woman having an ongoing usually exclusive sexual relationship with a man, who may provide her with financial support in return; a concubine; a loose woman with whom one consorts habitually; as, both his wife and his mistress attended his funeral. Spectator. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

5. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now Mistress Gilpin (careful soul). Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A married woman; a wife. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Several of the neighboring mistresses had assembled to witness the event of this memorable evening. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. The old name of the jack at bowls. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

To be one's own mistress, to be exempt from control by another person. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Female rule or dominion. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Ladyship, a style of address; -- with the personal pronoun. [ Obs. ] Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A woman who governs and teaches a school; a female school-teacher. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From older seamster, properly fem., AS. seámestre. See Seam. ] A woman whose occupation is sewing; a needlewoman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The business of a seamstress. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A seamstress. [ 1913 Webster ]

Two hundred sepstress were employed to make me shirts. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Seamstressy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Songster, and -ess. ] A woman who sings; also, a female singing bird. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A woman who spins. T. Brown. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Abbrev. fr. distress; or cf. OF. estrecier to press, pinch, (assumed) LL. strictiare, fr. L. strictus. See Distress. ] 1. Distress. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Sad hersal of his heavy stress. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pressure, strain; -- used chiefly of immaterial things; except in mechanics; hence, urgency; importance; weight; significance. [ 1913 Webster ]

The faculties of the mind are improved by exercise, yet they must not be put to a stress beyond their strength. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

A body may as well lay too little as too much stress upon a dream. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mech. & Physics) The force, or combination of forces, which produces a strain; force exerted in any direction or manner between contiguous bodies, or parts of bodies, and taking specific names according to its direction, or mode of action, as thrust or pressure, pull or tension, shear or tangential stress. Rankine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stress is the mutual action between portions of matter. Clerk Maxwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Pron.) Force of utterance expended upon words or syllables. Stress is in English the chief element in accent and is one of the most important in emphasis. See Guide to pronunciation, §§ 31-35. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Scots Law) Distress; the act of distraining; also, the thing distrained. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stress of voice, unusual exertion of the voice. --
Stress of weather, constraint imposed by continued bad weather; as, to be driven back to port by stress of weather. --
To lay stress upon, to attach great importance to; to emphasize. “Consider how great a stress is laid upon this duty.” Atterbury. --
To put stress upon, or
To put to a stress, to strain. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To press; to urge; to distress; to put to difficulties. [ R. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To subject to stress, pressure, or strain. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To subject to phonetic stress; to accent. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

4. To place emphasis on; to make emphatic; emphasize. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Having much stress. Rush. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A woman who suggests. “The suggestress of suicides.” De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]