Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To render matronly.
- To act as a mother to; assume the manner of a matron toward; specifically, to chaperon.
- Also spelled
matronise .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make a matron of; to make matronlike.
- transitive verb To act the part of a matron toward; to superintend; to chaperone.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To make a
matron of; to make matron-like. - verb transitive To act the part of a matron toward; to
superintend orchaperone .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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a girl as any of the party which she was nominally to "matronize;" but
A Little Country Girl Susan Coolidge 1870
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Lambskin, who might, from the gravity and dignity of her appearance, have sufficed to matronize a whole boarding-school, instead of one maiden lady of eighty and upwards.
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There were seven of us: my sister Sarah, who was to matronize the party; Miss Bessie; three of her girl friends; the Rev. Thomas Conrad Porter, then a Presbyterian pastor in Macon, but later
Documenting the American South: The Southern Experience in 19-th Century America 1903
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"My art is my chaperon," she wrote to an elderly relative who wished to come to Boston and matronize her.
The Pagans Arlo Bates 1884
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She chose to buy herself a fine house, and, having furnished it luxuriously and unearthed a cousin of her father's in Vermont and brought her to Boston to matronize her, she kept house on a magnificent scale, pinching, however, at certain points with unexpected meanness.
A Modern Instance William Dean Howells 1878
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The next day Mrs. Milray was able to take leave of her husband, in setting off to matronize a coaching party, with an exuberance of good conscience that she shared with the spectators.
Ragged Lady — Volume 1 William Dean Howells 1878
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The next day Mrs. Milray was able to take leave of her husband, in setting off to matronize a coaching party, with an exuberance of good conscience that she shared with the spectators.
Ragged Lady — Complete William Dean Howells 1878
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It's worth while to have a young and attractive sister to matronize.
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It's worth while to have a young and attractive sister to matronize.
THE WOMAN'S ADVOCATE 1869
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It's worth while to have a young and attractive sister to matronize.
hernesheir commented on the word matronize
She vowed then and there to never matronize another establishment that required their female employees to dress provocatively.
December 5, 2011