Obs. exc. Hist. [a. OF. clergesse ‘femme lettrée,’ also ‘religieuse’ (Godef.): fem. of clerc: see -ESS, and note to CLERGY.]
1. A female scholar, a learned woman.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 6. Sum is clergesse, & sum nis nout.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxi. 374. Morgne le fee, hir suster, that was so grete a clergesse.
2. A member of a female religious order.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 34. Though the clerke and the clergesse In latin tunge it rede and singe.
1888. J. Gillow, Bibliog. Dict. Eng. Cath., III. 197. She received the first habit of clergess on the feast of the Assumption.
