canoness

From canon +‎ -ess. Compare Latin canonissa.

canoness (plural canonesses)

1. A woman who holds a canonry in a conventual chapter.

A regular canoness was bound by the vow of poverty, and observed a strict rule of life. A secular canoness was allowed to hold private property and bound only by vows of chastity and obedience so long as she chose to remain in the chapter.

• “canoness”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• noncases, sonances