matronize v.

late 14c., matrone, "married woman," usually one of rank or social respectability and mature years (old enough to be the mother of a family, whether actually so or not), from Old French matrone "married woman; elderly lady; patroness; midwife," and directly from Latin mātrona "married woman, wife, matron," from māter (genitive mātris) "mother" (see mother (n.1)).

Also (15c.) "a married female saint." Sense of "female manager of a school, head nurse in a hospital, etc." is recorded by 1550s.

word-forming element used to make verbs, Middle English -isen, from Old French -iser/-izer, from Late Latin -izare, from Greek -izein, a verb-forming element denoting the doing of the noun or adjective to which it is attached.

The variation of -ize and -ise began in Old French and Middle English, perhaps aided by a few words (such as surprise, see below) where the ending is French or Latin, not Greek. With the classical revival, English partially reverted to the correct Greek -z- spelling from late 16c. But the 1694 edition of the authoritative French Academy dictionary standardized the spellings as -s-, which influenced English.

In Britain, despite the opposition to it (at least formerly) of OED, Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Times of London, and Fowler, -ise remains dominant. Fowler thinks this is to avoid the difficulty of remembering the short list of common words not from Greek which must be spelled with an -s- (such as advertise, devise, surprise). American English has always favored -ize. The spelling variation involves about 200 English verbs.

1580s, "to act as a patron towards, favor, assist," from patron + -ize, or from Old French patroniser. Meaning "treat in a condescending way" is attested by 1797; the sense of "give regular business to" is from 1801. Related: Patronized; patronizing; patronization.