1) Dessert 2) English girl name 3) French word used in English 4) Lady 5) Le Nozze di Figaro soprano 6) Noblewoman 7) Olivia in Twelfth Night 8) Peeress 9) Romance novel 
• (n.) 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.
A woman holding the title of count or earl. The wife or widow of a count in various European countries. The wife or widow of an earl in Great Britain. Used as a title for such a noblewoman. Many of these women in the early ages where Witches. 
Count'ess noun ; plural Countesses (-...s). [ French 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 . 
A countess is the wife or widow of an earl or a count, or a woman holding the rank of earl or count in her own right.
[n] - female equivalent of a count or earl
noun female equivalent of a count or earl
the wife or widow of a count in the nobility of Continental Europe or of an earl in the British peerage. · a woman having the rank of a count or earl in her own right.