matron
    n 1: a married woman (usually middle-aged with children) who is
         staid and dignified
    2: a wardress in a prison
    3: a woman in charge of nursing in a medical institution

Matron \Ma"tron\, n. [F. matrone, L. matrona, fr. mater mother.
   See Mother.]
   1. A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children;
      a woman of staid or motherly manners.
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            Your wives, your daughters,
            Your matrons, and your maids.         --Shak.
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            Grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a
            matron before she was a mother.       --Fuller.
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   2. A housekeeper; esp., a woman who manages the domestic
      economy of a public instution; a head nurse in a hospital;
      as, the matron of a school or hospital.
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   Jury of matrons (Law), a jury of experienced women called
      to determine the question of pregnancy when set up in bar
      of execution, and for other cognate purposes.
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MATRON. A married woman, generally an elderly married woman. 
     2. By the laws of England, when a widow feigns herself with child, in 
order to exclude the next heir, and a suppositious birth is expected, 
then, upon the writ de ventre inspiciendo, a jury of women is to be, 
impanelled to try the question, whether with child or not. Cro, Eliz. 566. 
So when a woman was sentenced to death, and she declared herself to be quick 
with child, a jury of matrons is impanelled to try whether she be or be not 
with child. 4 Bl. Com. 395. See Pregnancy; Quick with child.