predictress

English

Etymology

From predictor +‎ -ess.

Noun

predictress (plural predictresses)

1. A female predictor.
   • 1826, S[amuel] T[homas] Bloomfield, “St. Luke”, in Recensio Synoptica Annotationis Sacræ, Being a Critical Digest and Synoptical Arrangement of the Most Important Annotations on the New Testament, Exegetical, Philological, and Doctrinal: […], volume II, London: C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], chapter II, pages 245–246:

     προφῆτις. Why Anna is so called the Commentators are not agreed. Some take the word in the sense of “a predictress of future events;” as in the Apoc. 2, 20.; others think she is so called, as being the wife of a prophet.

   • 1836 March, Mrs. T. F. Clarke, “The First and Last Song”, in The Lady’s Magazine and Museum of the Belles-Lettres, Fine Arts, Music, Drama, Fashions, &c., volume VIII, London: […] J. Page, […], page 151, column 2:

     “Call me Eva,” said the woman, “the predictress of fate. Lady, I have but little to say now; but will you meet me to-morrow at midnight, under the large porch, in the Abbey church-yard, opposite to St. Margaret’s church; but remember, lady, you are to come alone, bring not your rival with you; I will tell you that which it is well you should know:—will you be there?”

   • 1842, E[benezer] Cobham Brewer, “[Dialogues.] The Trial of King Charles I.”, in School Recitations, Selected from Various Authors, and Disposed under Proper Heads, London: […] Thomas Allman, […], pages 320–321:

     Who did not hear the Hertfordshire predictress, / E’en in the council-room, assure our men / These measures were approved of from above, / And ratified by heavenly sanction?

   • 1863 January, Arnold Polenburg, unknown translator, “Funeral Oration upon Stephen Curcellæus”, in D[aniel] D. Whedon, editor, Methodist Quarterly Review, volume XLV; fourth series, volume XV, New York, N.Y.: […] Carlton & Porter, […], page 96:

     But it cannot be dissembled (since he was unwilling to leave anything in this direction untried) that when a youth he was led by his inquisitiveness to the study of astrology, which is said to be the predictress of future events; […]

   • 1901, Victor Hugo, translated by Henry L[lewellyn] Williams, “Face to Face”, in Red Robe and Grey Robe; or Richelieu Defied, New York, N.Y.: R[obert] F. Fenno & Company, […], translation of Marion Delorme, page 130:

     “I tell you, there is nothing but a blank!” repeated the woman whom the predictress had said, was christened “Marie.”

   • 1907 April 6, “Curiosities of the Calendar”, in Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic, number 5,072, Cheltenham, Glos, page 8, column 4:

     The “Annual Register” for 1809 contains an extract from a remarkable letter, dated Bath, April 2nd, in which the writer describes the effects of an extraordinary panic arising from a supposed prophecy of the end of the world. The account is headed “Bath Credulity,” and the writer states:—“A report was circulated that a certain infallible prophet, or prophetess, had predicted that an earthquake would be severely felt in Bath on Good Friday, and that Mount Beacon and Beechen Cliff, two immense hills situate at the north and south extremities of the town, should meet, and, of course, destroy and swallow up houses, inhabitants, pigs, and poultry. Some affirmed that Joanna Southcott was the predictor, others that it was a prophet now living at Midford, near this city, who was with Noah in the Ark, and has been travelling over various parts of the world ever since; but the greater part affixed the name of a female fortune-teller residing at Bath. Though they could not fix on any particular prophet, yet all agreed there had been such a predictress, and thousands implicitly believed the event would take place. […],” etc.

   • 1916 August 25, “All Over Arkansas”, in Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Ark., page four, column 7:

     The All Over Arkansas Man marks a prediction and calls for the next predictor. If a predictress will do as well, I will proceed to predict that within 10 years from this date there will not be a fly in the state of Arkansas.

   • 1940 November 18, Ventura County Star-Free Press, sixty-sixth year, number 9, Ventura, Calif., page twelve, column 8:

     ON THE STAGE / IN PERSON / NADA / Predictress of Futures

   • 1952 March 9, Arthur ‘Bugs’ Baer, “Stars Over Washington”, in Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, volume 50, number 37, Pittsburgh, Pa., column 1:

     When asked about Stassen, the medium to well-done predictress made a poultice of wet tea leaves, twisted the telescope into a question mark and threw a fade-away with the crystal ball.

   • 1960 January 14, Joe Caraher, “Trip to Shrine Game Wonderful, Says Top Guesser”, in The Daily Inter Lake, number 225, Kalispell, Mont., page 12, columns 1–2:

     Words tumbled enthusiastically from Mrs. Burke’s lips as she summarized the highlights of the excursion to San Francisco Bay, a hoped for sojourn that became reality when she topped all guessers in the Football Contest sponsored by the Inter Lake and Kalispell merchants. […] “We went past a park where two teams were playing baseball,” the fearless predictress reported.

   • 1975, Diary of w:Alpha Kappa Psi, volumes 65–70, page 29, column 2:

     A well-known predictress of the future prophesized that a small town in the Midwest was to be destroyed by a tornado in April of 1977.

   • 1979 October 10, “Frost hits Shelby County”, in The Sidney Daily News, volume 89, number 239, Sidney, Oh., page 1A, column 1:

     Local weather predictress Gertrude Dowell said that she hasn’t “looked too close at it (the weather)” to predict what the winter might bring.

   • 1997, Peter Huston, “Addendum 2-3: The National Enquirer’s Psychic Predictions for the Second Half of 1995”, in Scams from the Great Beyond: How to Make Easy Money Off of ESP, Astrology, UFOs, Crop Circles, Cattle Mutilations, Alien Abductions, Atlantis, Channeling, and Other New Age Nonsense, Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, →ISBN, pages 36–37:

     Barbara Donchess, alleged predictress of the Mount St. Helen’s volcanic eruption, tells us to look forward to . . . / • George Clooney, star of the television show “ER,” will be saved from a house fire by his pet pig!

   • 2004, John C[harles] Wright, “Awake in the Night”, in Gardner Dozois, editor, The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Griffin, →ISBN, page 407:

     More, she also had the gift of the Foretelling, for some of the dreams she had were not of the past, but of the future, and she wrote of the things to come, […]. All these things are set out in the Great Book, and for this reason Mirdath is also called The Predictress.