Mrs

Alternative forms

• Mrs. (US, Canada)

Etymology

From mistress.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪsɪz/, /ˈmɪsəz/

  Audio (US)

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  Audio (UK)

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  Rhymes: -ɪsɪz

• (US dialects, especially, Southern American English) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪs/, /ˈmɪz/

  Homophones: Ms, miss (see further homophones in Ms)

Noun

Mrs (plural Mmes)

1. Abbreviation of Missus or Mistress, used before an adult woman's name or surname, used for any high-status woman without regard to marital status until the 1800s, after which it began to be reserved for married women and used with their married surnames.
   • 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals:

     Mrs Malaprop said, “He’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.”

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles , chapter IV

     In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady, Mrs Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking beatitude; all old inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott, and frequenters of this retreat.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.

Anagrams

• MSR, RMS, RSM, SRM