canoness

[ kan-uh-nis ]

/ ˈkæn ə nɪs /

a member of a Christian community of women living under a rule but not under a vow.

Origin of canoness

First recorded in 1675–85; canon² + -ess

See -ess.

The former was called Madame, because she was canoness of a chapter at Lorraine.

The Memoirs of the Louis XIV. and The Regency, Complete |Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans
And a Parisian market-woman spoke better French than a German canoness with sixty-four ancestors.

The Prose Writings of Heinrich Heine |Heinrich Heine
The canoness rose, took my arm, and we seated ourselves at table together, still talking about Italian literature.

The Memoires of Casanova, Complete |Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
The canoness and the Bernardine nun step into the enclosure reserved for the litigants.

The Iron Pincers |Eugne Sue

She was made a canoness of the aristocratic order of St. Theresa, of which the Queen was the head.

Lola Montez |Edmund B. d'Auvergne

canoness

/ (ˈkænənɪs) /

RC Church a woman belonging to any one of several religious orders and living under a rule but not under a vow