murderess

• murdress

From Middle English morderes, from Old French morderesse, moeurdrese; equivalent to murder +‎ -ess.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɜːdəˈɹɛs/, /ˈmɜːdəɹɪs/, /ˈmɜːdɹɪs/, /-ɹəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝdəɹəs/
• Rhymes: -ɛs, -ɜː(ɹ)dɹɪs
• Homophone: murderous (one pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: mur‧der‧ess

• Audio (US):

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murderess (plural murderesses)

1. (dated) Female equivalent of murderer: a woman who commits murder.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Triumph”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 228:

     ‘[…] Yet am I very fair, Kallikrates!’ / ‘I hate thee, murdress, and I have no wish to see thee. […]’

   • 1992 March 4, Elizabeth Grice, “Why a spell inside gave fresh hope to ‘Tart Number One’”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 42,516, London, page 15, column 1:

     “All the murderesses I met in prison”, she [Kathryn George-Harries] says lightly, “had committed their crimes in domestic arguments. They chose the gun. I chose to go for the Meissen. Nobody’s worth doing life for.”

   • 2009 March 10, Rosie DiManno, “Murder reduced to infantile online postings”, in Toronto Star‎^[1], archived from the original on 13 March 2009:

     M.T. maintains the primary suspect is Stefanie's boyfriend, the couple recently breaking up. Despite other Facebook and MSN messages indicating M.T. had talked with at least three friends about wanting Stefanie dead, she doesn't seem to think suspicion will fall on her as a murderess-once-removed.

   • 2014 October 5, Matt Rudd, “Scandal! Horror! Homicide! Murders by gaslight”, in The Times‎^[2], London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 October 2023:

     Our maniacal murderess filled a bonnet box and a Gladstone bag with all but the head and the foot of poor Mrs Thomas, and threw them from Richmond bridge.