procuress means A middlewoman: a woman who performs as a go-between, an intermediary. It carries an Arena rating of 1394, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, procuress ranks #3,145 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #3,302 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #3,945 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #4,062 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
procuress is pronounced /pɹəˈkjʊəɹɪs/.
Why “procuress” is a great word
A woman who procures clients for a prostitute or arranges illicit sexual liaisons. From Middle English procuresse, from Middle French procureresse (feminine agent noun of procurer), corresponding to procure (from Latin procurare, "to manage, take care of") + the feminine suffix -ess, first attested around 1450. Unlike a matchmaker, who implies sanctioned union, or a broker, a neutral merchant of goods, a procuress is solely a merchant of clandestine flesh and discretion. She is the rustle of silk in a shadowed antechamber, the glint of coin in a palm held just below the table, the whispered negotiation that turns a person into a transaction—a chillingly bureaucratic architecture built upon the warm ruin of need.
Etymology
From Old French procureresse (compare French procureuse), corresponding to procure + -ess.
noun
- A middlewoman: a woman who performs as a go-between, an intermediary.
- A female procurer.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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