Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Countess \Count"ess\ (kount"?s), n.; pl. {Countesses} (-?s). [F.
   comtesse. See {Count} a nobleman.]
   The wife of an earl in the British peerage, or of a count in
   the Continental nobility; also, a lady possessed of the same
   dignity in her own right. See the Note under {Count}.