or lady abbess, subs. (old).—A bawd; a stewardess of the STEWS (q.v.): cf. ABBOT; NUN; SACRISTAN, etc. (GROSE).

1

  1770.  FOOTE, The Lame Lover, i. Who should trip by but an ABBESS, well known about town, with a smart little nun.

2

  1782.  WOLCOT (‘Peter Pindar’), Odes to the Pope, Ode ii. [Works (Dublin, 1795), II. 492].

        So an old ABBESS, for the rattling rakes,
A tempting dish of human nature makes,
And dresses up a luscious maid.

3

  1821.  P. EGAN, Life in London, II. 1. Those three nymphs … are three nuns; and the plump female is of great notoriety, and generally designated the ABBESS.

4

  1840.  W. KIDD, London and All Its Dangers. Wretches who traffic in the souls and bodies of their helpless victims are called LADY ABBESSES.

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