rare. [f. prec. + -ESS: cf. shepherdess.] A female cowherd; a cowherd’s wife.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VII. xxxvi. 330. The Cowheardesse comming in … said, Thou fellow, doest thou see the bread burne before thy face, and wilt not turne it?
1883. Monier Williams, Relig. Thought India, I. v. 112. Brought up among cowherds, cowherdesses, and … peasants.
