Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Derogatory A woman who is a writer of poems.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A woman who is a poet.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A female poet.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun dated a female poet

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a woman poet

Etymologies

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Examples

  • His poetess is inspired by the Polish Roma poetess Papusza; 1910-1987.

    The Roma Poetess 2007

  • I know that you have no desire to celebrate war on the face of it, like Owen's "poetess" - nor do I begin to presume to know the challenges or "virtus" of military life and warfare.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2010

  • _carmen triumphale_ of the poetess is a worthy accompaniment.

    The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 288, Supplementary Number Various

  • always gives away a woman writer, also known as poetess.

    Poem Containing "So," "And," "Such" Beate Sigriddaughter 2011

  • Poet Mary O'Donnell, for example, has suggested "poetess", "authoress", "hysterical" and "as a mother"; but to me, these are bugbear words and phrases rather than tripping-up ones – she's disturbed by the way they're used rather than confused by the act of reading them.

    Which words disturb you? 2010

  • There is a "poetess" in the wilds of nineteenth-century frontier Canada ( "Meneseteung"), a violinist in the 1940s who dreams of leaving her baby outside to die ( "My Mother's Dream"), and an aging piano teacher, Miss Marsalles, whose popularity is waning ( "Dance of the Happy Shades"):

    A Quiet Genius 2001

  • There is a "poetess" in the wilds of nineteenth-century frontier Canada ( "Meneseteung"), a violinist in the 1940s who dreams of leaving her baby outside to die ( "My Mother's Dream"), and an aging piano teacher, Miss Marsalles, whose popularity is waning ( "Dance of the Happy Shades"):

    A Quiet Genius 2001

  • There was a "poetess" named Jessie Pope who was, apparently, a kind of one woman recruiting force - she wrote verse singing the praises of war and urging young men to enlist.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2010

  • I loved that anthology, and, although an 11-year-old aspiring "poetess", I wasn't alarmed that women were more often the subjects than the authors (what's so bad about being a rarity?) but, yes, it was refreshing suddenly to be presented with this notion that the poet's desired woman might not exist at all; that she might be a figment of his imagination.

    Blogposts | guardian.co.uk 2009

  • Often Munro is historical and modern simultaneously, as in her depiction of the doctor who treats the nineteenth-century frontier "poetess": "He believes that her troubles would clear up if she got married.

    A Quiet Genius 2001

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