matron

noun

Etymology: From Middle English matrone, from Old French matrone, from Latin mātrōna (“married woman”), from māter (“mother”). Doublet of matrona.

1. A mature or elderly woman, especially one of a higher social rank.

   “grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a matron before she was a mother”

2. A mature or elderly woman, especially one of a higher social rank.

   “But there’s no bottome, none / In my Voluptuouſneſſe : Your Wiues, your Daughters, / Your Matrons, and your Maides, could not fill vp / The Ceſterne of my Luſt, and my Deſire / All continent Impediments would ore-beare / That did oppoſe my will.”

   ““A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,[…].”

3. A mature or elderly woman, especially one of a higher social rank.

   “the matron of a school or hospital”

4. A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children.

   “Roman matrons, sexually exhausted, were fond of trout caught in a little stream in the Vosges Mountains.”

5. A housekeeper, especially, a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public institution.
6. A female prison officer.