matron

Noun

matron (plural matrons)

1. A mature or elderly woman, especially one of a higher social rank.
   • grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a matron before she was a mother1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI)
   1. A woman with the character of a mother or matriarch.
      • But there’s no bottome, none / In my Voluptuouſneſſe : Your Wiues, your Daughters, / Your Matrons, and your Maides, could not fill vp / The Ceſterne of my Luſt, and my Deſire / All continent Impediments would ore-beare / That did oppoſe my will.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
      • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,[…].1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
   2. A woman in charge of the domestic arrangements of an establishment or institution, especially, the nursing officer or chief nurse of a hospital.
      • the matron of a school or hospital
2. A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children.
   • Roman matrons, sexually exhausted, were fond of trout caught in a little stream in the Vosges Mountains.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 237
3. A housekeeper, especially, a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public institution.
4. (US) A female prison officer.