| 释义 |
▪ I. biddy1|ˈbɪdɪ|
[Familiar abbrev. of Bridget.]
1. Used chiefly in U.S. for an Irish maid-servant.
[1708Swift (title of poem) To Mrs. Biddy Floyd. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. xii. 363 Poor Bridget, or Biddy, our red-armed maid of all work!] a1861T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) 261 Our thousand [sc. soldiers] did the Capitol little harm that a corporal's guard of Biddies with mops and tubs could not repair in a forenoon's campaign. 1902B. Harte in Harper's Mag. Apr. 733 He's..puttin' up a high-toned house on the hill..with a Chinese cook, and a Biddy. a1953E. O'Neill More Stately Mansions (1965) ii. iii. 120 A mother of children, our Irish biddy nurse girl and house servant.
2. A woman, usu. with derogatory implication (see quots.). slang.
1785Grose Vulg. Tongue, Biddy, or Chick-a-biddy, a chicken, and figuratively a young wench. 1947Horizon XVI. 205 Few of our chaps have a biddy [sc. Italian girl] up the alley here. 1958Observer 10 Aug. 11/3 He is already installed as the local delinquent, using his considerable charm on the local biddys. 1960C. P. Snow Affair xl. 368, I believe she's the bloodiest awful specimen of a party biddy.
▪ II. biddy2 Obs. exc. dial.|ˈbɪdɪ|
[Of uncertain origin: it has been variously conjectured to be an instinctive sound used in calling chickens, a form of Gaelic bîdeach ‘very small,’ and the same word as prec. Cf. chickabiddy.]
A chicken, a fowl. Also dial., a louse.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 128 To. Why how now my bawcock? how dost yu chuck. Mal. Sir. To. I biddy, come with me. 1875Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Biddy, a louse. 1881Isle of Wight Gloss. (E.D.S.), Biddy or Chickabiddy, a chick. 1884Harper's Mag. May 930/2 When a biddy wished to sit, she was removed at night upon the nest.
▪ III. biddy3|ˈbɪdɪ|
= red biddy.
1940Dylan Thomas Portrait of Artist 228 He used to drink a pint of biddy before his breakfast. |