bishopess

bishopess

English

Etymology

bishop +‎ -ess

Noun

bishopess (plural bishopesses)

1. A female bishop.
   • 2003, Patrick Collinson, Elizabethans

     Presently there were bishopesses as well as priestesses, splendidly arrayed in chasubles and diadems. These were, from a strictly canonical point of view, the first validly ordained women priests.

2. The wife of a bishop.