[f. CATER sb.1 + -ESS.] A female caterer; a woman who caters for others.
1634. Milton, Comus, 764. She, good cateress, Means her provision only to the good.
a. 1683. Oldham, Wks. & Rem. (1686), 52.
| Live you in Luxury, and pamper’d Ease, | |
| As if whole Nature were your Cateress. |
a. 1800. Cowper, Odyss. (ed. 2, 1802), II. 115. Food of all kinds … The cat’ress of the royal house supplied.
1885. R. Burton, 1001 Nts., I. 104. This dame, the cateress, hired me to carry a load.
