matron

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ma=tron

CIDE DICTIONARY

matron, n. [F. matrone, L. matrona, fr. mater mother. See Mother.].

•  A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children; a woman of staid or motherly manners.  [1913 Webster]

  "Your wives, your daughters,
  Your matrons, and your maids."  [1913 Webster]

  "Grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a matron before she was a mother."  [1913 Webster]
•  A housekeeper; esp., a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public instution; a head nurse in a hospital; as, the matron of a school or hospital.  [1913 Webster]

Jury of matrons (Law), a jury of experienced women called to determine the question of pregnancy when set up in bar of execution, and for other cognate purposes.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

matron, n.
1 a married woman, esp. a dignified and sober one.
2 a woman managing the domestic arrangements of a school etc.
3 Brit. a woman in charge of the nursing in a hospital.

Idiom

matron of honour a married woman attending the bride at a wedding.

Usage

Now usu. called senior nursing officer.

Derivative

matronhood n.

Etymology

ME f. OF matrone f. L matrona f. mater matris mother

THESAURUS

matron

Eve, Frau, abbess, better half, chatelaine, common-law wife, concubine, dame, daughter of Eve, distaff, domina, donna, dowager, feme, feme covert, femme, first lady, frow, gentlewoman, girl, goodwife, goody, governess, grande dame, great lady, helpmate, helpmeet, homemaker, housewife, lady, lass, madam, married woman, matriarch, milady, mistress, mother superior, old lady, old woman, rib, squaw, vrouw, wahine, weaker vessel, wedded wife, wife, woman

ROGET THESAURUS

matron

Marriage

N marriage, matrimony, wedlock, union, intermarriage, miscegenation, the bonds of marriage, vinculum matrimonii, nuptial tie, married state, coverture, bed, cohabitation, match, betrothment, wedding, nuptials, Hymen, bridal, espousals, spousals, leading to the altar, nuptial benediction, epithalamium, sealing, torch of Hymen, temple of Hymen, hymeneal altar, honeymoon, bridesmaid, bridesman, best man, bride, bridegroom, married man, married woman, married couple, neogamist, Benedict, partner, spouse, mate, yokemate, husband, man, consort, baron, old man, good man, wife of one's bosom, helpmate, rib, better half, gray mare, old woman, old lady, good wife, goodwife, feme, feme coverte, squaw, lady, matron, matronage, matronhood, man and wife, wedded pair, Darby and Joan, spiritual wife, monogamy, bigamy, digamy, deuterogamy, trigamy, polygamy, mormonism, levirate, spiritual wifery, spiritual wifeism, polyandrism, Turk, bluebeard, unlawful marriage, left-handed marriage, morganatic marriage, ill- assorted marriage, mesalliance, mariage de convenance, marriage broker, matrimonial agency, matrimonial agent, matrimonial bureau, matchmaker, schatchen, married, one, one bone and one flesh, marriageable, nubile, engaged, betrothed, affianced, matrimonial, marital, conjugal, connubial, wedded, nuptial, hymeneal, spousal, bridal, the gray mare the better horse, a world-without-end bargain, marriages are made in Heaven, render me worthy of this noble wife, si qua voles apte nubere nube pari.

Woman

N woman, she, her, female, petticoat, feminality, muliebrity, womanhood, womankind, the sex, the fair, fair sex, softer sex, weaker vessel, dame, madam, madame, mistress, Mrs, lady, donna belle, matron, dowager, goody, gammer, Frau, frow, Vrouw, rani, good woman, good wife, squaw, wife, matronage, matronhood, bachelor girl, new woman, feminist, suffragette, suffragist, nymph, wench, grisette, girl, sissy, betty, cot betty, cotquean, henhussy, mollycoddle, muff, old woman, hen, bitch, sow, doe, roe, mare, she goat, Nanny goat, tabita, ewe, cow, lioness, tigress, vixen, gynecaeum, estrogen, oestrogen, consanguinity &c, paternity, lesbian, dyke, female, she-, feminine, womanly, ladylike, matronly, maidenly, wifely, womanish, effeminate, unmanly, gynecic, gynaecic, Pron, she, her, hers, ', a perfect woman nobly planned, a lovely lady garmented in white, das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan, earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected, es de vidrio la mujer, she moves a goddess and she looks a queen, the beauty of a lovely woman is like music, varium et mutabile semper femina, woman is the lesser man.