Hypertext Webster Gateway: "deaconess"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Deaconess
Rom. 16:1, 3, 12; Phil. 4:2, 3; 1 Tim. 3:11; 5:9, 10; Titus 2:3,
4). In these passages it is evident that females were then
engaged in various Christian ministrations. Pliny makes mention
of them also in his letter to Trajan (A.D. 110).
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Deaconess \Dea"con*ess\, n. (Eccl.)
A female deacon; as:
(a) (Primitive Ch.) One of an order of women whose duties
resembled those of deacons.
(b) (Ch. of Eng. and Prot. Epis. Ch.) A woman set apart for
church work by a bishop.
(c) A woman chosen as a helper in church work, as among the
Congregationalists.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
deaconess
n : a woman deacon
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