English

Noun

usurpress ‎(plural usurpresses)

1. (rare) A female usurper.
   • 17C, William Cartwright, reproduced in 1951 in The Plays and Poems of William Cartwright, p421

     This yet may dash the Marriage; and Leucasia That bold Usurpress of my Bed shall miss Of being saluted Queen to night howe'r.

   • 1863, Emma Robinson, Mauleverer's divorce: A Story of Woman's Wrongs, p59

     Madame Le Crampon was the absolute ruler of this machine;--her mother had ceased to hold almost any relation to it! She had abdicated in favour of that hard and implacable usurpress.

   • 1868, Anonymous, Pandora (poem), The Atlantic Monthly, Vol 22, Issue 132, archived here

     Thou, that assumest to lead,

     Holding the truth and the keys of the skies,

     Art the usurpress indeed,

     And rulest thy sons with a sceptre of lies.

   • 1963, Victor Alexandrov, The Kremlin: Nerve-centre of Russian History, p147

     Sophia, who was anxious not to be reckoned a usurpress and who wished to keep up appearances, held two thrones and two crowns on behalf of Ivan and Peter.

   • 2001, Paul Steinberg, Speak You Also: A survivor's Reckoning, p40

     I would "attend" Auschwitz with invisible resources that vastly increased the chances of survival, resources that included even my linguistic abilities, since German was my mother tongue, so to speak, and French my vernacular, while English was the language I had spoken with my brother and studied successfully in school. Finally, Russian was the rule with my father, sister, and the usurpress, and I was literally at home in it.

   • 2004, Keith Smith, Re: A Jacobite Stamp, alt.talk.royalty Usenet

     I have a number of these. They were issued in March 1893 and advertised the journal "The Jacobite", organ of the Legitimist Jacobite League. They are listed in "Scottish Stamp and Label Catalogue 1970" and subsequently illustrated in "Scottish Stamp News" and "Cinderella Philatelist" There are used covers in existence which show the usurpress stamp upside down with the 'stamp' of Queen Mary IV and III alongside.