housemother

From house +‎ mother. First use appears c. 1822. See cite below.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /haʊsˈmʌðə(ɹ)/, [haʊsˈmɐðə(ɹ)]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hʌʊsˈmʌðɚ/

housemother (plural housemothers)

1. The mother of a family; the female head of household, or of any collection of persons living as a family or in common, as in a primitive community.
   • 1822, Purvis and Co. (publisher), The Literary Melange; Or, Weekly Register of Literature and the Arts, page 264:

     At length, the aged house-mother died, or rather slept away into the other world, without pain or sickness, from absolute decay; leaving her solitary partner to mourn her loss, and with an unfeigned longing to join her in the grave.

2. A woman in charge of a residence for young people to look after them.

• motherhouse