lioness

From Middle English leonesse, lyonesse, from Old French leonesse, lionesse; equivalent to lion +‎ -ess.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪ.ə.nɪs/, /ˈlaɪ.ə.nɛs/

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lioness (plural lionesses, masculine lion)

1. A female lion (animal).

   Synonym: (idiomatic) queen of beasts

2. A female lion (famous person regarded with interest and curiosity).
   • 1877, The Contemporary Review, volume 29, page 1123:

     The stories were a tremendous success; she was one of the leading lionesses of London literary society.

3. (Oxford University slang, obsolete) A female visitor to a student at Oxford, especially during commemoration week.
   • 1871, John Cordy Jeaffreson, Annals of Oxford, page 305:

     When "lionesses" visiting Oxford for the gay doings of commemoration week spend a morning at Merton, they should look out for Antony Wood's mural tablet in the chapel, […]

   • 1888, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, page 271:

     "Now, boys, keep your eyes open, there must be plenty of lionesses about;" and thus warned, the whole load, including the cornopean player, were on the look-out for lady visitors, profanely called lionesses, all the way up the street.

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
• “lioness”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “lioness”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• Elisons, esloins, insoles, lesions, selions