Definition of "mother superior" [mother superior]

• A woman in charge of a religious community of women. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Mary of Jesus Crucified became the first mother superior of her order and remained so until her death in 1787."
• "This is a characteristic as well as a pretty artist - story, which, however, is marred, I think, by the additions of a choir that gathers round the organist and without exception forgets like him time and place, and of a mother superior who sends the sacristan to remind those music-enthusiasts in the organ-gallery of the impatiently waiting priest and acolyte, Men willingly allow themselves to be deceived, but care has to be taken that their credulity be not overtaxed."
• "As I exited the Ursuline Convent, after apologizing to Anne Carmaux and her husband, after giving them her formal release papers, signed by me and the Judge Advocate, after thanking the mother superior for her kindness and Monsignor Toulon for his help, I found Major Dover waiting for me."