[f. VILLAIN sb. + -ESS.] A female villain. (Common in recent use.)
1586. Marlowe, 1st Pt. Tamburl., V. ii. My wife, my Queene and Emperesse,… Villanesse to shame, disdaine, and misery.
1865. Reader, 20 May, 563/3. Her villainess is a she-devil.
1872. M. Collins, Pr. Clarice, II. vii. 99. He can follow his hero and heroine, his villain and villainess, into holes and corners.
