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Meaning of headswoman | Babel Free

Noun CEFR B2

Definitions

  1. A female headsman; a female executioner that carries out executions by decapitation.
  2. (obsolete) A midwife.
    East-Anglia

Examples

“No candid person will wholly dismiss the proposition that the idea of having a Lord Chancellor but not a Lady Chancellor may at least be connected with the idea of having a headsman but not a headswoman, a hangman but not a hangwoman.”
“HEADSWOMAN, s. a midwife. It would be presumptuous to pry into obstetric mysteries, to discover the origin or propriety of this denomination.”

CEFR level

B2
Upper Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B2 vocabulary — upper intermediate level.

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