Other forms: headmistresses
A headmistress is the woman in charge of a school. The headmistress said, a strict headmistress, sent to the headmistress.
British schools now say headteacher or head, and the older pair of headmaster and headmistress survives mainly in independent schools and in fiction. Being sent to the headmistress is a fixed phrase of childhood dread.
1nounheadmistressThe woman in charge of a school.
“The headmistress greeted every pupil at the school gate each morning.”
headmistress is a head.
head + mistress.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA