请输入您要查询的英文单词：

　

单词 girl
释义

girln.

Brit. /ɡəːl/, U.S. /ɡərl/
Forms: Middle English garl, Middle English geerl, Middle English gerl, Middle English (1800s– chiefly Irish English and nonstandard) gurl, Middle English–1500s gerle, Middle English–1600s girle, Middle English–1600s gyrle, 1500s gierle, 1500s gurle, 1500s gyrll, 1500s–1600s guirle, 1500s–1600s gyrl, 1500s– girl, 1600s garle, 1600s gerreld; U.S. regional (New York) 1800s– goil; Caribbean 1900s– gyal, 1900s– gyul. See also gal n.1, gel n.1
Origin: Of unknown origin.
Etymology: Origin unknown.The Middle English forms and their geographical distribution suggest that the word is the reflex of an Old English word with y , or at the least of a word whose stem vowel was identified in early Middle English with the various reflexes (spelt u , i , and e ) of Old English y . On this assumption, an Old English form *gyrela has been reconstructed by many scholars, and most have further assumed that this word shows the diminutive suffix -el suffix1. However, attempts to construct a further etymology for such a form have generally been regarded as unsuccessful by recent scholars. In an influential article (‘European Clothing Names and the Etymology of Girl’ in W. W. Arndt et al. Studies in Historical Linguistics in Honor of George Sherman Lane (1967) 233–7), F. C. Robinson suggested that the Middle English word shows the reflex of the attested Old English word gyrela dress, apparel. Robinson suggests parallels for the semantic development which he assumes, although it should be noted that this part of his argument has met with a somewhat mixed reception among other scholars (see for example A. Moerdijk ‘(Mis)use of Semantic Parallelism: Robinson's Etymology of English girl’ in North-Western European Language Evolution 24 (1994) 49–65, although see also Y. Terasawa ‘Some Etymological and Semasiological Notes on Girl’ in K. R. Grinda & C.-D. Wetzel Anglo-Saxonica: Festschrift für Hans Schabram zum 65. Geburtstag (1993) 335–45). There is also a formal difficulty, in that Old English gyrela dress, apparel probably shows a West-Saxon spelling with y for ie (the word is probably a derivative of gierwan to dress, clothe), hence the word may be assumed to have shown a palatal initial consonant which would have given Middle English *yirl. The unpalatalized initial consonant shown by all of the Middle English forms could perhaps be explained as the result of the influence of a northern form (A. Bammesberger and J. Grzega suggest an Anglian form with retraction of æ to a before r plus another consonant in a labial environment, hence with subsequent i-mutation to æ: see Onomasiology Online 2 (2001) 1–8), but if so there seems at the least to be a mismatch between the attested forms of the stem vowel and the initial consonant in Middle English. A quite different theory sees the word as a borrowing from another West Germanic language, with a diminutive form of Middle Low German Gör, Göre girl, small child (16th cent.) being frequently suggested as the word's etymon, although this explanation encounters chronological difficulties, and also fails to account well for the variation in stem vowel shown by the Middle English word. (Alternatively, the Middle English and Middle Low German words have been seen as cognate developments from a shared Germanic base.) For further discussion, and also for a detailed account of other suggested etymologies, see A. Liberman ‘English Girl Under the Asterisked Sky of the Indo-Europeans’ in A. della Volpe & E. C. Polomé Proc. 7th Ann. UCLA Indo-European Conf. (1998) 150–172. See also B. Diensberg ‘The Etymology of Modern English Girl’ in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 85 (1984) 473–5. It may be noted that boy, lad, lass are all of difficult etymology; possibly most of them arose as jocular transferred uses of words that had originally a different meaning.
I. Senses relating to a person.
1. Chiefly in plural. A child of either sex; a young person. Now Irish English (Wexford). knave girl n. a boy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > young person > [noun]
youngeOE
younglingOE
girlc1300
youtha1325
young onec1384
birdc1405
young person1438
young blood1557
primrosea1568
slip1582
juvenal1598
quat1607
airling1611
egga1616
saplinga1616
chita1657
a slip of a girla1660
juvenile1733
young adult1762
boots1806
snip1838
spring chicken1857
yob1859
kid1884
chiseller1922
juvenile adult1926
YA1974
yoof1986
c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 76 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 108 (MED) Þe Amirales douȝter was In þe strete þare-oute, And suyþe gret prece of gurles and Men comen hire al-a-boute.
c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. xi. 132 (MED) Gramer for girles [v.rr. gurles, gerles, childeryn] I garte ferst write, And bet hem wiþ a baleis but ȝif þei wolde lerne.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 2798 (MED) Men miȝtten seen þere hondes wrynge..Wymmen shrikyng, gyrles gradyng.
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 664 In daunger hadde he at his owene gyse The yonge gerles of the diocise, And knew hir conseil, and was al hir reed.
a1475 Bk. Curtasye (Sloane 1986) l. 328 in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 308 Ne delf þou neuer nose thyrle With thombe ne fyngur, as ȝong gyrle.
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 171 (MED) Here knaue gerlys I xal steke.
a1827 J. Poole Gloss. in T. P. Dolan & D. Ó. Muirithe Dial. Forth & Bargy (1996) 49 Gurl, gurlès, a child, a girl.
1996 T. P. Dolan & D. Ó. Muirithe Dial. Forth & Bargy 25 Gurl, a child of either sex.
2.
a. A young or relatively young woman. In early use frequently in gay girl. Cf. also little girl n. 2.all-American, career, cover, Essex, land, schoolgirl, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > young person > young woman > [noun]
daughterOE
maidenOE
young womanOE
mayc1175
burdc1225
maidc1275
wenchc1290
file1303
virginc1330
girla1375
damselc1380
young ladya1393
jilla1425
juvenclec1430
young person1438
domicellea1464
quean1488
trull1525
pulleta1533
Tib1533
kittyc1560
dell1567
gillian1573
nymph1584
winklota1586
frotion1587
yuffrouw1589
pigeon1592
tit1599
nannicock1600
muggle1608
gixy1611
infanta1611
dilla1627
tittiea1628
whimsy1631
ladykin1632
stammel1639
moggie1648
zitellaa1660
baggagea1668
miss1668
baby1684
burdie1718
demoiselle1720
queanie?1800
intombi1809
muchacha1811
jilt1816
titter1819
ragazza1827
gouge1828
craft1829
meisie1838
sheila1839
sixteenc1840
chica1843
femme1846
muffin1854
gel1857
quail1859
kitten1870
bud1880
fräulein1883
sub-debutante1887
sweet-and-twenty1887
flapper1888
jelly1889
queen1894
chick1899
pusher1902
bit of fluff1903
chicklet1905
twist and twirl1905
twist1906
head1913
sub-deb1916
tabby1916
mouse1917
tittie1918
chickie1919
wren1920
bim1922
nifty1923
quiff1923
wimp1923
bride1924
job1927
junior miss1927
hag1932
tab1932
sort1933
palone1934
brush1941
knitting1943
teenybopper1966
weeny-bopper1972
Valley Girl1982
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > young unmarried woman
mayc1175
girla1375
damselc1380
miss1668
intombi1809
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 816 Whan þe gaye gerles were in-to þe gardin come, Faire floures þei founde.
a1450 Castle Perseverance (1969) l. 1160 Þanne mayst þou bultyn in þi boure And serdyn gay gerlys.
?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element l. 960 For by god it is a prety gyrle It is a worlde to se her whyrle Daunsynge in a rounde.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. x. sig. D The boy thy husbande, and thou the gyrle his wyfe.
1593 F. Sabie Fissher-mans Tale l. 340 I sawe one Lasse farre comelier than the rest, A peerlesse peece, an heart-delighting gyrle.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) v. iv. 132 I hold him but a foole that will endanger His Body, for a Girle that loues him not. View more context for this quotation
c1650 A. Cowley On Death of Crashaw 28 Wanton as Girls, as old Wives, Fabulous!
1691 T. Shadwell Scowrers iii. i. 21 Brave mettled Girls; I grow mad in Love, and 'twill break out into a flame.
1701 N. Rowe Ambitious Step-mother v. ii. 68 I am not lucky at the glossing Art Of catching Girls with words.
1743 W. Guthrie tr. ‘Monsieur de Blainville’ Trav. II. xi. 75 They every Year distribute a certain Number of Purses, by way of Portions, to poor Girls in Marriage.
1785 W. Cowper Task ii. 227 As smooth And tender as a girl, all-essenced o'er With odours.
1813 J. Forbes Oriental Mem. I. iv. 75 After the girls are betrothed, the ends of the fingers and nails are dyed red, with a preparation from the mendey, or hinna shrub.
1859 Sat. Rev. 8 24/2 The dare-devilry which prompts a respectable girl to make her way into the haunts of vice.
1894 H. H. Gardener Unofficial Patriot 329 No girl is ever quite good enough to marry any mother's son.
1925 D. Parker in World (N.Y.) 16 Aug. e3/1 Men seldom make passes At girls who wear glasses.
1986 O. Clark Diary 7 Oct. (1998) 195 I threw a glass of wine over a girl who seemed to be a psychopath.
2005 Sugar May 128/2 Some guys think that sleeping with loads of girls makes them a stud.
b. A woman of any age.Attested earlier in (often derogatory) reference to women with respect to their occupation or social status: see senses 7 and 6.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun]
wifeeOE
womaneOE
womanOE
queanOE
brideOE
viragoc1000
to wifeOE
burdc1225
ladyc1225
carlinec1375
stotc1386
marec1387
pigsneyc1390
fellowa1393
piecec1400
femalea1425
goddessa1450
fairc1450
womankindc1450
fellowessa1500
femininea1513
tega1529
sister?1532
minikinc1540
wyec1540
placket1547
pig's eye1553
hen?1555
ware1558
pussy?a1560
jade1560
feme1566
gentlewoman1567
mort1567
pinnacea1568
jug1569
rowen1575
tarleather1575
mumps1576
skirt1578
piga1586
rib?1590
puppy1592
smock1592
maness1594
sloy1596
Madonna1602
moll1604
periwinkle1604
Partlet1607
rib of man1609
womanship?1609
modicum1611
Gypsy1612
petticoata1616
runniona1616
birda1627
lucky1629
she-man1640
her1646
lost rib1647
uptails1671
cow1696
tittup1696
cummer17..
wife1702
she-woman1703
person1704
molly1706
fusby1707
goody1708
riding hood1718
birdie1720
faggot1722
piece of goods1727
woman body1771
she-male1776
biddy1785
bitch1785
covess1789
gin1790
pintail1792
buer1807
femme1814
bibi1816
Judy1819
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
wifie1823
craft1829
shickster?1834
heifer1835
mot1837
tit1837
Sitt1838
strap1842
hay-bag1851
bint1855
popsy1855
tart1864
woman's woman1868
to deliver the goods1870
chapess1871
Dona1874
girl1878
ladykind1878
mivvy1881
dudess1883
dudette1883
dudine1883
tid1888
totty1890
tootsy1895
floozy1899
dame1902
jane1906
Tom1906
frail1908
bit of stuff1909
quim1909
babe1911
broad1914
muff1914
manhole1916
number1919
rossie1922
bit1923
man's woman1928
scupper1935
split1935
rye mort1936
totsy1938
leg1939
skinny1941
Richard1950
potato1957
scow1960
wimmin1975
womyn1975
womxn1991
1878 C. M. Greene & S. Thompson Sharps & Flats (typescript, Libr. of Congress) iii. 5 How delightfully modest. You know you deserve it all. Are the girls in?
1914 Let. in New Fun 3 Oct. 10/1 Well, it is amusing to think that men envy us girls so much that they want to wear our clothes and the tight waists.
1964 G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? iii. 45 Our girls were up and dying for their tea by seven o'clock. They're working wives, or married to factory workers.
2007 J. Mansell Thinking of You xxxiii. 233 The thing is, you call them beautiful girls in bikinis. I call them a bunch of old slappers.
3. A female child. The counterpart of boy.Frequently also with prefixed defining adjectives baby, little, young, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > child > girl > [noun]
maiden-childeOE
maidenOE
maidc1275
maid-childc1275
wenchc1290
thernec1300
lassc1325
maidenkinc1330
child-womana1382
girlc1400
pucelle1439
maidkin1440
mawther1440
mop1466
woman-child?1515
bonnea1529
urchina1535
kinchin-mort1567
dandiprat1582
prill1587
sluta1592
little girl1603
maggie1603
tendril1603
squall1607
childa1616
filly1616
vriester1652
miss1668
gilpie1720
lassie1725
laddess1768
jeune fillea1777
bitch1785
girly?1786
gal1795
ladyling1807
missikin1815
colleen1828
girleen1833
snowdrop1833
pinafore1836
chica1843
fillette1847
charity-girl1848
urchiness1852
Mädchen1854
gel1857
pusill1884
backfisch1888
girly-girly1888
cliner1895
tittie1918
weeny1929
bobby-soxer1944
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 205 (MED) A pyȝt coroune ȝet wer þat gyrle.
1577 N. Breton Wks. Young Wyt 17 I find it showes a prety iest, when children cry, be it or Gyrle or boy: To still them strayght, and make them be at rest.
1594 R. Wilson Coblers Prophesie l. 1080 Whose child is that you beare so tenderly?.. Is it a boy or girle, I praie ye tell?
a1661 W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 6 The young children, girls, walked all the Sabbath in the afternoon, with cups or tuns in their hands.
1667 S. Pepys Diary 28 Aug. (1974) VIII. 405 I..christened the child, a girl, Elizabeth.
1679 E. M. Thompson Corr. Family of Hatton (1878) I. 197 (note) One of his sisters..announces the birth of a very lusty garle.
1708 E. Hatton New View London II. 762 A Subscription School for 50 Girls.
1731 R. Gwinnett et al. Pylades & Corinna I. 59 They take Girls under the Age of Nine, whom they purify with much Ceremony,..before they are held fit for Sacrifice.
1771 P. Lyons Let. 25 Sept. in F. Mason John Norton & Sons (1968) 190 One pair of fashionable silver Shoe Buckles for a girl about seven years old.
1808 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 19 85 Her mother's first child, a girl, is also an albiness..the fifth, a boy, is an albino.
1870 O. Logan Before Footlights 26 I was a child of the most uninteresting age..a tall scraggy girl, with red elbows.
1886 J. J. Wright Little Asker viii. 187 Every boy and girl..is only a little asker, made of such mind and spirit as can live, and learn.
1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xxvi. 295 She was a dreadful mischief when she was a girl and was always getting into scrapes.
1964 C. Chaplin My Autobiogr. xxi. 352 His stumblings and bumpings into things make the little girl laugh joyously.
1997 Daily Tel. 1 Feb. (Young Tel. section) 3/4 The boys at school are funny about letting girls play football.
2006 S. Silas in S. Maguire Little Black Dress 208 Anne is already the proud mother of two, a girl and a boy who slipped out sooner than expected.
4. colloquial. A sweetheart, a girlfriend; a wife. Also (in later use) best girl: see best adj., n.1, and adv. Compounds 2a. Frequently with possessive adjective. Now chiefly North American.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > one who is loved or a sweetheart > specifically a female sweetheart or girlfriend
lief971
ladya1393
ladyshipa1393
speciala1400
amiec1400
womanc1400
amoreta1425
mistressc1425
paramoura1450
fair ladya1470
girl?a1513
sooterkin1530
Tib1533
she1547
lady-love1568
jug1569
young lady1584
pigeon1592
love-lass1594
lass1596
dowsabel1612
swainling1615
lucky1629
Dulcinea1638
Lindabrides1640
inamorata1651
baby1684
best girl1691
lady friend1733
young woman1822
moll1823
querida1834
sheila1839
bint1855
tart1864
babykins1870
Dona1874
novia1874
fancy-girl1892
girlfriend1892
cliner1895
tootsy1895
dinah1898
best1904
twist and twirl1905
jane1906
kitten1908
patootie1918
meisie1919
bride1924
gf1925
jelly1931
sort1933
a bit (also piece) of homework1945
beast1946
queen1955
momma1964
mi'jita1970
her indoors1979
girlf1991
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife
wifeeOE
womanc1275
peerc1330
spousessc1384
ladyc1390
good lady1502
girl?a1513
spousage1513
little lady1523
the weaker vessel1526
companion1535
wedlock1566
Mrs1572
dame1574
rib?1590
feme1595
fathom1602
feme covert1602
shrew1606
wife of one's bosom1611
kickie-wickiea1616
heifer1616
sposa1624
bosom-partner1633
goodwife1654
little woman1715
squaw1767
the Mrs1821
missus1823
maw1826
lady wife1840
tart1864
mistress1873
mama1916
ball and chain1921
trouble and strife1929
old boot1958
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 107 My tendir gyrle [1568 Bann. girdill, a1600 Osborn gryce], my wallie gowdye, My tyrlie myrlie, my crowdie mowdie, Quhone that our mouthis dois meit at ane, My stang dois storkyn with ȝour towdie.
1593 B. Barnes Parthenophil & Parthenophe 119 To heare the herdgroomes wowing speeches, Whiles one to daunce his gyrle beseeches.
1630 W. Davenant Cruell Brother v. i. sig. I4 O my Wife! my bosome Girle! where art thou?
1648 R. Herrick Hesperides sig. C4v Some ask'd how Pearls did grow, and where? Then spoke I to my Girle, To part her lips, and shew'd them there The Quarelets of Pearl.
1772 J. Wedgwood Let. 4 Oct. in Sel. Lett. (1965) 137 Your good Lady is really recovering her health.., though more slowly than we could wish, which is exactly the case of my poor Girl.
1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemanship vii. 33 I may lose my dear girl for ever.
1816 W. Combe Eng. Dance of Death II. 243 No Subaltern his girl should wed, Or e'er ascend her marriage bed: He should a Major be at least, Whom she should join in Hymen's feast.
1826 M. W. Shelley Last Man II. i. 7 ‘My best girl’, he had said, ‘relieves me from these phantasies. United to her,..never again shall I know the misery of finding myself alone.’
1873 A. Trollope Eustace Diamonds II. xlii. 205 A lover may call his lady-love his girl, and do so very prettily.
1887 Texas Siftings 7 May 11/2 You can't convince a young man whose best girl has just said ‘Yes’ that this country is going to wreck and ruin.
1917 Punch 15 Aug. 125/2 And when the War is over, some knight or belted earl, What's survived from killin' Germans, will take 'er for 'is girl.
1952 M. R. Rinehart Swimming Pool xxviii. 249 He even had a girl, although he said he wouldn't marry her until he was cleared of the murder charge.
1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 30 June (Virginia weekly section) 1 The suburban image—beer and pizza with your best girl at Tysons Corner—doesn't quite fit the rather jaundiced and bizarre lifestyles promoted by such bands as the Rolling Stones.
2001 A. O'Hare Green Eyes viii. 91 ‘Close your eyes, children, whilst I attend to my girl,’ he boomed, gave her another smacker on the lips..before throwing himself into the chair.
5. Used as a form of address to a girl or woman. See also my girl at my adj. 2a.Often (esp. in later use) in informal contexts, implying intimacy or friendship between the speaker and the person addressed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > as form of address
womanc1225
madamc1300
sisterc1450
niece1488
girl1562
Madonna1584
young woman1683
princess1709
Sitt1838
babe1911
modom1920
mama1979
the world > people > person > child > girl > [noun] > as term of address
girl1562
sis1596
missy1676
little woman1790
birdeen1840
missikins1923
1562 A. Brooke tr. M. Bandello Tragicall Hist. Romeus & Iuliet 19 She saith with smyling face. Good newes for thee my gyrle good tidinges I thee bring.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iii. 75 Well girle, the Noble Countie Paris..seekes thee for his Wife. View more context for this quotation
?c1640 W. Rowley et al. Witch of Edmonton (1658) i. i. 5 I must bid Farewel, for fashions sake; but I will visit thee Suddenly, Girl.
a1652 R. Brome Love-sick Court iii. iii. 131 in Five New Playes (1659) I tell you Girl, there is danger in it.
1684 J. Bunyan Seasonable Counsel 36 Well girl, thou shalt have it.
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 20 Hold up your Head, Girl.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker III. 242 I didn't come on the wrong side of the blanket, girl.
1800 W. Dunlap tr. A. von Kotzebue False Shame ii. vi. 28 Why, girl, thou art become tall and beautiful.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iii. 59 And let me tell you girl Howe'er you babble, great deeds cannot die.
1905 Washington Post 12 Nov. 6/2 Listen, girl: I was once the center rush of a great football eleven.
1966 J. J. Phillips Mojo Hand viii. 81 Girl, if you don't watch your step you ain't going to last long 'round here.
2006 P. Williams Rise & Fall Yummy Mummy xxxviii. 256 You're not married yet, girl.
6. A prostitute.Recorded earliest in girl of the game, †girl of ease. Cf. also street girl n. at street n. and adj. Compounds 4, working girl n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > a prostitute
meretrixOE
whoreOE
soiled dovea1250
common womanc1330
putec1384
bordel womanc1405
putaina1425
brothelc1450
harlot?a1475
public womanc1510
naughty pack?1529
draba1533
cat1535
strange woman1535
stew1552
causey-paikera1555
putanie?1566
drivelling1570
twigger1573
punka1575
hackney1579
customer1583
commodity1591
streetwalker1591
traffic1591
trug1591
hackster1592
polecat1593
stale1593
mermaid1595
medlar1597
occupant1598
Paphian1598
Winchester goose1598
pagan1600
hell-moth1602
aunt1604
moll1604
prostitution1605
community1606
miss1606
night-worm1606
bat1607
croshabell1607
prostitute1607
pug1607
venturer1607
nag1608
curtal1611
jumbler1611
land-frigate1611
walk-street1611
doll-common1612
turn-up1612
barber's chaira1616
commonera1616
public commonera1616
trader1615
venturea1616
stewpot1616
tweak1617
carry-knave1623
prostibule1623
fling-dusta1625
mar-taila1625
night-shadea1625
waistcoateera1625
night trader1630
coolera1632
meretrician1631
painted ladya1637
treadle1638
buttock1641
night-walker1648
mob?1650
lady (also girl, etc.) of the game1651
lady of pleasure1652
trugmullion1654
fallen woman1659
girlc1662
high-flyer1663
fireship1665
quaedama1670
small girl1671
visor-mask1672
vizard-mask1672
bulker1673
marmalade-madam1674
town miss1675
town woman1675
lady of the night1677
mawks1677
fling-stink1679
Whetstone whore1684
man-leech1687
nocturnal1693
hack1699
strum1699
fille de joie1705
market-dame1706
screw1725
girl of (the) town1733
Cytherean1751
street girl1764
monnisher1765
lady of easy virtue1766
woman (also lady) of the town1766
kennel-nymph1771
chicken1782
stargazer1785
loose fish1809
receiver general1811
Cyprian1819
mollya1822
dolly-mop1834
hooker1845
charver1846
tail1846
horse-breaker1861
professional1862
flagger1865
cocodette1867
cocotte1867
queen's woman1871
common prostitute1875
joro1884
geisha1887
horizontal1888
flossy1893
moth1896
girl of the pavement1900
pross1902
prossie1902
pusher1902
split-arse mechanic1903
broad1914
shawl1922
bum1923
quiff1923
hustler1924
lady of the evening1924
prostie1926
working girl1928
prostisciutto1930
maggie1932
brass1934
brass nail1934
mud kicker1934
scupper1935
model1936
poule de luxe1937
pro1937
chromo1941
Tom1941
pan-pan1949
twopenny upright1958
scrubber1959
slack1959
yum-yum girl1960
Suzie Wong1962
mattress1964
jamette1965
ho1966
sex worker1971
pavement princess1976
parlour girl1979
crack whore1990
c1662 Westm. Wedding (Broadside ballad) Luteners-Lane it was never so grac't With so many Girls of the game.
1733 L. Theobald Wks. Shakespeare VII. 100 I'll throw in a Testimony or Two from a Contemporary Poet [of Shakespeare]..by whom Quail is metaphorically used for a Girl of the Game.
1756 Demi-Rep 6 The Men of pleasure, and the Girls of ease.
1772 J. Boswell London Jrnl. 25 Nov. (1950) 49 I picked up a girl in the Strand; went into a court with intention to enjoy her in armour.
1821 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 539/1 Supposing that he will not even yet visit ‘the girls’, as his companion proposes, he readily consents to go and see those at whose houses he used to meet them.
1848 A. H. Clough Bothie of Toper-Na-Fuosich iv. 176 The streets of the dissolute city, Where dressy girls slithering-by upon pavements give sign for accosting.
1865 ‘Philocomus’ Love Feast vi. 45 A jolly old parson once out on the loose, Met a girl in the old market square; So resolved of his clerical tools to make use, And take an uprighter there.
1926 J. Black You can't Win vii. 84 She ruled her half dozen ‘girls’ with a heavy hand.
1973 N.Y. Post 22 June 7 In the face of a crackdown on street prostitution many of the girls..are taking shelter in ‘rap clubs’—which have replaced massage parlors in the sex-for-sale world.
1996 Observer 14 Apr. 9/5 The city centre..used to be popular with the girls, but now the police have ‘cleaned’ it up and they have moved to Chapeltown.
7.
a. A female servant or domestic employee; a maid (now chiefly historical). Now more generally: a female employee. Frequently with connotations of social inferiority. Cf. boy n.1 1a. girl-of-all-work: a female domestic employee (now historical). For uses with a prefixed noun forming established compounds, as factory-, kitchen-, office, parlour, shop-girl, etc., see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > [noun] > woman or girl
maidenOE
schelchenec1000
womanOE
maidc1300
ancillec1366
wench1380
child-womana1382
maidservanta1382
serving-womana1398
servantessa1425
servant maid?a1450
woman servant1450
servitrice1477
administress1483
ministressa1500
serving maid?1529
maiden-servant1533
servitrix1566
miskin-fro1585
servant girl1658
girl1668
necessary womanc1689
scout1708
servitress1827
ancilla1871
1668 S. Pepys Diary 24 Aug. (1976) IX. 287 My wife is upon hanging the long chamber, where the girl lies, with the sad stuff that was in the best chamber.
1704 S. Knight Jrnl. 47 Landlady..bid the Girl hand her the spice in the little Gay cuppe on ye shelfe.
1812 A. Adams in J. Adams' Lett. (1848) 409 Seven o'clock. Blockheads not out of bed. Girls in motion. Mean, when I hire another man~servant, that he shall come for one call.
1831 Times 1 Aug. 1/3 (advt.) Wanted, a Girl of All-work.
1843 H. W. Herbert Marmaduke Wyvil xxiii. 128 My girl will pack up a few things in half an hour.
1875 Scribner's Monthly 10 287 But all this time we had no girl, and..at last I determined to go and get a girl myself. So one day at lunch-time I went to an intelligence office in the city.
1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect Long Life II. 139 A dirty, slipshod girl-of-all-work bawled at me from the area.
1917 R. Fry Let. 6 Oct. (1972) II. 417 He found the girl at our milk shop very much upset about the raids.
1918 B. Tarkington Magnificent Ambersons i. 10 The stove-wood and kindling that the ‘girl’ and the ‘hired-man’ always quarrelled over: who should fetch it.
1952 F. L. Allen Big Change i. i. 12 An American deference to the democratic idea compelled them to be spoken of as ‘the girls’ or, in less sophisticated circles, as ‘the help’.
1963 V. Canning Limbo Line xiv. 191 They..asked the girl to bring the cheese board, saying they wanted to try some local cheeses.
1996 S. Mitchell Daily Life Victorian Eng. xii. 264 [Lower middle class] mothers did more childcare than in other classes; the only servant was usually a girl-of-all-work for the cleaning and heavy chores.
1999 J. Lloyd & E. Rees Come Together iv. 104 The girl in the shop warns me that my excuse for a bikini is too flimsy and it'll be whipped off in a second.
b. Chiefly South African (also U.S. in earlier use). derogatory and offensive. A black female servant or domestic employee.See also house girl n. at house n.1 and int. Compounds 10.In quot. 1835 used in addressing a black female slave.
ΚΠ
1835 J. H. Ingraham South-West II. xlii. 242 They always address them [sc. the slaves]..as ‘boy’ and ‘girl’, to all under forty years of age.
1859 T. Shone Diary 5 Nov. in Dict. S. Afr. Eng. on Hist. Princ. (1996) He flogged Guika the girl.
1879 A. W. Tourgée Fool's Errand x. 42 You must remember that all colored women are ‘girls’.
1908 J. H. Drummond Diary 15 Sept. in Dict. S. Afr. Eng. on Hist. Princ. (1996) (at cited word) Our girl, Jerry, is as nervous as she is black.
a1931 S. Black in S. Gray Three Plays (1984) 164 The girl will bring you some coffee. But perhaps you rader prefer tea.
1971 Post (S. Afr.) 9 May (Cape ed.) 5/2 Whites..use racist words of contempt such as ‘boy’ and ‘girl’.
1986 Style (Johannesburg) Dec. 41 Newcomers were conspicuous as they bit their tongues turning garden boy into gardener, girl into maid, boys into men, Afs into blacks and South West into Namibia.
1989 R. Kenan Visitation of Spirits 187 Do you have any idea how many white men have called me girl and aunt? Out of disrespect? Out of hatefulness?
8. Chiefly depreciative. An effeminate man; = sissy n. 2. Also (originally U.S. Prison slang): a homosexual man.Frequently as a contemptuous (or, among male homosexuals, affectionate) form of address to a man.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > man > [noun] > effeminate man
badlingeOE
milksopc1390
cockneyc1405
malkina1425
molla1425
weakling1526
tenderling1541
softling1543
niceling1549
woman-man1567
cocknel1570
effeminate1583
androgyne1587
meacock1590
mammaday1593
hermaphrodite1594
midwife1596
nimfadoro1600
night-sneaker1611
mock-mana1625
nan1670
she-man1675
petit maître1711
old woman1717
master-miss1754
Miss Molly1754
molly1785
squaw1805
mollycoddle1823
Miss Nancy1824
mollycot1826
molly mop1829
poof1833
Margery?c1855
ladyboy1857
girl1862
Mary Ann1868
sissy1879
milk1881
pretty-boy1881
nancy1888
poofter1889
Nancy Dawson1890
softie1895
puff1902
pussy1904
Lizzie1905
nance1910
quean1910
maricon1921
pie-face1922
bitch1923
Jessie1923
lily1923
tapette1923
pansy1926
nancy boy1927
nelly1931
femme1932
ponce1932
queerie1933
palone1934
queenie1935
girlie-man1940
swish1941
puss1942
wonk1945
mother1947
candy-ass1953
twink1953
cream puff1958
pronk1959
swishy1959
limp wrist1960
pansy-ass1963
weeny1963
poofteroo1966
mo1968
shim1973
twinkie1977
woofter1977
cake boy1992
hermaphrodite-
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > homosexuality > [noun] > a homosexual person > male
badlingeOE
nan1670
molly1708
Miss Molly1754
Miss Nancy1824
molly mop1829
poof1833
Margery?c1855
Mary Ann1868
pretty-boy1881
cocksucker1885
poofter1889
queer1894
fruit1895
fairy1896
homosexualist1898
puff1902
pussy1904
nance1910
quean1910
girl1912
faggot1913
mouser1914
queen1919
fag1921
gay boy1921
maricon1921
pie-face1922
bitch1923
Jessie1923
tapette1923
pansy1926
nancy boy1927
nelly1931
femme1932
ponce1932
punk1933
queerie1933
gobbler1934
jocker1935
queenie1935
iron1936
freak1941
swish1941
flit1942
tonk1943
wonk1945
mother1947
fruitcake1952
Mary1953
twink1953
swishy1959
limp wrist1960
arse bandit1961
leather man1961
booty bandit1962
ginger beer1964
bummer1965
poofteroo1966
shirtlifter1966
battyman1967
dick-sucker1968
mo1968
a friend of Dorothy1972
shim1973
gaylord1976
twinkie1977
woofter1977
bender1986
knob jockey1989
batty boy1992
cake boy1992
1862 M. von Meysenbug tr. L. Tolstoy Childhood & Youth xix. 98 What does he mean by doing nothing at all? What a girl he is!
1912 A. Berkman Prison Mem. Anarchist ii. xliii. 433 My friend is very bitter against the prison element variously known as ‘the girls’, ‘Sallies’, and ‘punks’, who for gain traffic in sexual gratification.
1943 J. D. Horan & G. Frank Out in Boondocks 5 Well, girls, here they come.
1976 Sniffin' Glue Oct. 2/1 Punks are not girls, if it comes to the crunch we'll have no option but to fight back and fight hard!
1985 Amer. Speech 60 251 She also distinguishes between the various types of girls in the men's prison.
2006 Loaded Dec. 135/3 He also had a foot spa in the other hand, the big girl.
II. Other senses.
†9. A roebuck in its second year. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [noun] > genus Capreolus (roe deer) > male
roebucka1387
girl1486
hemule1486
shingle1660
1486 Bk. St. Albans E iv b The first yere he [sc. the Roo-bucke] is a kyde..The secunde yere he is a gerle..The thirde yere an hemule.
1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxxix. 236 A Rowe. The which is called the first yeare a Kidde, the second a Gyrle, the third an Hemuse.
1660 J. Howell Θηρολογια 62 Those pretty Fawns, Prickets, Sorrells, Hemuses, and Girls..which I [sc. a Hinde] brought into the world.
1717 Dict. Rusticum (ed. 2) (at cited word) Girle, (among Hunters) a Roe-buck of two Years.
1724 Guillim's Display of Heraldry (ed. 6) iii. xiv. 156/1 The fifth and last Beast of Chase is the Roe, whose proper Terms, pertaining to Chase, are these: He is said to be the..Second Year a Girl.
10. U.S. slang. Cocaine. Also with the, that. Cf. boy n.1 8.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > an intoxicating drug > [noun] > a) narcotic drug(s) > morphine, cocaine, or heroin > cocaine
cocaine1874
coke1908
happy dust1912
candy1925
nose candy1925
gold dust1931
Charley1935
girl1953
blow1971
rock1973
product1983
rock cocaine1984
crack1985
1953 H. J. Anslinger & W. F. Tompkins Traffic in Narcotics 309 The girl, cocaine.
1967 ‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp iii. 61 She had taught me to snort 'girl'.
a1985 C. Rouse in I. Gitler Swing to Bop (1987) vii. 282 Diz wouldn't even think about the hard drugs but the ‘girl’..the ‘girl’ put you in another frame of mind.
2004 T. N. Baker Sheisty 202 I looked at him and I could tell that he had been fucking wit that girl (cocaine).

Phrases

P1. Proverbs and proverbial phrases.
a. †he that marries a girl, mars a woman.
ΚΠ
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 628 The Proverb is certainly true..He that Marries a Girl, marrs a Woman.
b. girls will be girls: used to express resignation regarding an (undesirable) aspect of the behaviour of a girl or young woman, as being supposedly characteristic of her age or sex; cf. boys will be boys at boy n.1 and int. Phrases 1.
ΚΠ
1826 T. H. Lister Granby (ed. 2) II. vii. 83 ‘She really used him rather ill.’ ‘How so?’.. ‘Why, girls will be girls. They like admiration.’
1873 Harper's Mag. Feb. 432/2 I am afraid they have annoyed you; but girls will be girls, you know.
1953 A. Hosain Phoenix Fled 65 ‘Ah,’ smiled Mrs. Ram with heavy coyness. ‘In preparation for Arshad's return! Well, well, girls will be girls.’
2006 Country Living (Electronic ed.) Aug. I..kept a giant pump of Aveda hand cream at the ready. Girls will be girls—tool belts, sanders, and all.
P2. Phrases.
a. colloquial. girl about († the) town: †(a) a prostitute (obsolete); (b) (now usually with hyphens) a female who is constantly seen at fashionable social occasions, a socialite; (more generally) a female with a modern or sophisticated outlook and lifestyle; also attributive; cf. town n. Phrases 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > fashionable society > [noun] > member of > female
fine lady1577
girl about ( the) towna1701
élégante1797
lionne1846
flâneuse1879
mondaine1888
mundane1897
nymph1898
Sloane Ranger1975
bright young thing2016
a1701 C. Sedley Misc. Wks. (1702) 143 Cloris, the prettyest Girl about the Town, Askt fifty Guinea's, for her Maidenhead.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 187. ⁋2 I know not whether you have ever heard of the famous girl about Town called Kitty: This Creature..was my Mistress.
1749 Lady Luxborough Let. 29 Nov. in Lett. to W. Shenstone (1775) 144 Miss Jenny Hamilton, a pretty girl about town.
1862 Times 10 Jan. 8/2 [He] strikes up acquaintance with Marta Marietta, an unfortunate girl about town, and induces her to receive him in her private apartments.
1936 ‘N. Blake’ Thou Shell of Death ix. 155 Lucilla had dropped her distinguished-widow pose..and resumed the girl-about-town manner.
1963 D. Stanford M. Spark: Biogr. & Crit. Stud. 20 All in one moment I seemed to see the smart girl-about-town, the wondering unsure child, and the dedicated poet.
2001 Sugar Feb. 100/1 Every girl-about-town knows that accessories are the best way to funk up any outfit.
b. colloquial (now historical) girl of (the) town: a prostitute (see Phrases 2a(a)); cf. town n. Phrases 6b.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > a prostitute
meretrixOE
whoreOE
soiled dovea1250
common womanc1330
putec1384
bordel womanc1405
putaina1425
brothelc1450
harlot?a1475
public womanc1510
naughty pack?1529
draba1533
cat1535
strange woman1535
stew1552
causey-paikera1555
putanie?1566
drivelling1570
twigger1573
punka1575
hackney1579
customer1583
commodity1591
streetwalker1591
traffic1591
trug1591
hackster1592
polecat1593
stale1593
mermaid1595
medlar1597
occupant1598
Paphian1598
Winchester goose1598
pagan1600
hell-moth1602
aunt1604
moll1604
prostitution1605
community1606
miss1606
night-worm1606
bat1607
croshabell1607
prostitute1607
pug1607
venturer1607
nag1608
curtal1611
jumbler1611
land-frigate1611
walk-street1611
doll-common1612
turn-up1612
barber's chaira1616
commonera1616
public commonera1616
trader1615
venturea1616
stewpot1616
tweak1617
carry-knave1623
prostibule1623
fling-dusta1625
mar-taila1625
night-shadea1625
waistcoateera1625
night trader1630
coolera1632
meretrician1631
painted ladya1637
treadle1638
buttock1641
night-walker1648
mob?1650
lady (also girl, etc.) of the game1651
lady of pleasure1652
trugmullion1654
fallen woman1659
girlc1662
high-flyer1663
fireship1665
quaedama1670
small girl1671
visor-mask1672
vizard-mask1672
bulker1673
marmalade-madam1674
town miss1675
town woman1675
lady of the night1677
mawks1677
fling-stink1679
Whetstone whore1684
man-leech1687
nocturnal1693
hack1699
strum1699
fille de joie1705
market-dame1706
screw1725
girl of (the) town1733
Cytherean1751
street girl1764
monnisher1765
lady of easy virtue1766
woman (also lady) of the town1766
kennel-nymph1771
chicken1782
stargazer1785
loose fish1809
receiver general1811
Cyprian1819
mollya1822
dolly-mop1834
hooker1845
charver1846
tail1846
horse-breaker1861
professional1862
flagger1865
cocodette1867
cocotte1867
queen's woman1871
common prostitute1875
joro1884
geisha1887
horizontal1888
flossy1893
moth1896
girl of the pavement1900
pross1902
prossie1902
pusher1902
split-arse mechanic1903
broad1914
shawl1922
bum1923
quiff1923
hustler1924
lady of the evening1924
prostie1926
working girl1928
prostisciutto1930
maggie1932
brass1934
brass nail1934
mud kicker1934
scupper1935
model1936
poule de luxe1937
pro1937
chromo1941
Tom1941
pan-pan1949
twopenny upright1958
scrubber1959
slack1959
yum-yum girl1960
Suzie Wong1962
mattress1964
jamette1965
ho1966
sex worker1971
pavement princess1976
parlour girl1979
crack whore1990
1733 T. Cibber Harlot's Progress 9 Thus finely set out, I'll make such a Rout, And top all the Rantipole Girls of the Town.
1765 S. Foote Commissary i. i. 19 You brought me a child almost as big as yourself; and a delightful father you chose for it! Doctor Catgut,..that eternal trotter after all the little draggle-tail'd girls of town.
1786 Daily Universal Reg. 4 Oct. 2/3 Two bailiffs arrested a poor reduced girl of the town in the neighbourhood of Wells Street..as she lay in bed.
1880 R. H. Stoddard Poems 243 Men hurry by with a stealthy glance, Women pass with their eyes cast down; Even the children seem to know The shameless girl of the town.
1926 Times 13 Aug. 8/3 Having more charity than discretion, [he] stopped to talk with a girl of the town rather than brusquely pass her by.
1999 S. Romaine Communicating Gender iii. 77 The expression girl of the town (since given way to woman of the street) meant a prostitute.
c. colloquial. girl of the pavement: a prostitute (cf. = nymph of the pavé at nymph n.1 2a).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > a prostitute
meretrixOE
whoreOE
soiled dovea1250
common womanc1330
putec1384
bordel womanc1405
putaina1425
brothelc1450
harlot?a1475
public womanc1510
naughty pack?1529
draba1533
cat1535
strange woman1535
stew1552
causey-paikera1555
putanie?1566
drivelling1570
twigger1573
punka1575
hackney1579
customer1583
commodity1591
streetwalker1591
traffic1591
trug1591
hackster1592
polecat1593
stale1593
mermaid1595
medlar1597
occupant1598
Paphian1598
Winchester goose1598
pagan1600
hell-moth1602
aunt1604
moll1604
prostitution1605
community1606
miss1606
night-worm1606
bat1607
croshabell1607
prostitute1607
pug1607
venturer1607
nag1608
curtal1611
jumbler1611
land-frigate1611
walk-street1611
doll-common1612
turn-up1612
barber's chaira1616
commonera1616
public commonera1616
trader1615
venturea1616
stewpot1616
tweak1617
carry-knave1623
prostibule1623
fling-dusta1625
mar-taila1625
night-shadea1625
waistcoateera1625
night trader1630
coolera1632
meretrician1631
painted ladya1637
treadle1638
buttock1641
night-walker1648
mob?1650
lady (also girl, etc.) of the game1651
lady of pleasure1652
trugmullion1654
fallen woman1659
girlc1662
high-flyer1663
fireship1665
quaedama1670
small girl1671
visor-mask1672
vizard-mask1672
bulker1673
marmalade-madam1674
town miss1675
town woman1675
lady of the night1677
mawks1677
fling-stink1679
Whetstone whore1684
man-leech1687
nocturnal1693
hack1699
strum1699
fille de joie1705
market-dame1706
screw1725
girl of (the) town1733
Cytherean1751
street girl1764
monnisher1765
lady of easy virtue1766
woman (also lady) of the town1766
kennel-nymph1771
chicken1782
stargazer1785
loose fish1809
receiver general1811
Cyprian1819
mollya1822
dolly-mop1834
hooker1845
charver1846
tail1846
horse-breaker1861
professional1862
flagger1865
cocodette1867
cocotte1867
queen's woman1871
common prostitute1875
joro1884
geisha1887
horizontal1888
flossy1893
moth1896
girl of the pavement1900
pross1902
prossie1902
pusher1902
split-arse mechanic1903
broad1914
shawl1922
bum1923
quiff1923
hustler1924
lady of the evening1924
prostie1926
working girl1928
prostisciutto1930
maggie1932
brass1934
brass nail1934
mud kicker1934
scupper1935
model1936
poule de luxe1937
pro1937
chromo1941
Tom1941
pan-pan1949
twopenny upright1958
scrubber1959
slack1959
yum-yum girl1960
Suzie Wong1962
mattress1964
jamette1965
ho1966
sex worker1971
pavement princess1976
parlour girl1979
crack whore1990
1900 G. B. Shaw Three Plays for Puritans p. xii They insisted..as pitifully as a poor girl of the pavement will pretend to be a clergyman's daughter.
1935 Times 16 May 14/2 Henriette, ingenuous in appearance, untouched in heart, but by temporary misfortune a girl of the pavement.
1940 G. J. Nathan Encycl. Theatre 362 The leading characters are Joe, 'a young loafer with money and a good heart ';..and Kitty, a girl of the pavements.
d. (the) girl next door: a female perceived as familiar, pleasant, dependable, etc., esp. when viewed as a romantic partner; sometimes implying a lack of originality, excitement, or glamour; also attributive; cf. boy next door at boy n.1 and int. Phrases 5.In quot. 1925, typifying an average young woman of the time.
ΚΠ
1925 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 15 Mar. 26/6 (heading) Girl next door pictured in story beginning tomorrow.
1929 Charleston (W. Virginia) Gaz. 23 Dec. 12/3 The life of a struggling song writer who finally achieves success through the interest of the girl ‘next door’.
1942 Hammond (Indiana) Times 4 Dec. 18/4 For the girl next door whose taste is as feminine as an old fashioned garden, we discovered a box filled with toilet water and dusting powder in an appropriately named fragrance.
1968 Times Educ. Suppl. 23 Feb. 602/2 Diana Quirk's Ophelia was very much the girl-next-door.
1981 J. Fonda Workout Bk. (1982) 15 The round-cheeked all-American girl-next-door look.
2002 Loaded July (Encycl. Eroticus Suppl.)18/1 Kylie. Has managed to morph from the cute girl next door to sex kitten extraordinaire.
e. (all) girls together: expressing female solidarity or intimacy; on terms of close friendship with another girl or girls; also attributive (usually with hyphens); cf. all boys (or lads, etc.) together at all adj., pron., n., adv., and conj. Phrases 31.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective] > on terms of close friendship with other girls
(all) girls together1931
1893 Evening Herald (Syracuse, N.Y.) 11 Dec. 2/4 As they used to say at boarding school, ‘We are all girls together’, and we can talk confidentially.]
1931 R. Ferguson Brontës went to Woolworth's xii. 141 It would be terrible if she wanted to be all-girls-together with me about him.
1946 ‘S. Russell’ To Bed with Grand Music viii. 101 She seemed more than willing to re-establish a girls-together relationship with Deborah.
1961 A. Christie Pale Horse xii. 128 I got her softened up... Girls-together stuff.
1996 M. Cheek Sleeping Beauties xix. 133 One of those all-girls-together beauty nights.
2007 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 10 Apr. ‘It's all girls together,’ she jokes, ‘although a lot of men do come along to support their wives or girlfriends. It's a great girls' night out.’
f. les girls: a group of women who form the chorus in a musical show; chorus girls; (also, in extended use) women collectively, frequently considered in the context of their sexual activity or availability (cf. sense 6).Cf. also chorus-girl n. at chorus n. Compounds 2, Gaiety girl n. at gaiety n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > variety, etc. > performers in variety, etc. > [noun] > chorus-girl
monkey1871
follies1874
Gaiety girl1886
chorus-girl1894
pony1908
chorine1922
Ziegfeld girl1932
les girls1936
terp1937
1934 Times 9 July 17/3 The cabaret performance will include Marguerite Leroy, Sunny O'Dea, Naunton Wayne, and Les Girls, and will take place at 11.30 p.m.]
1936 Stage June 27/1 Was it going to be just a simple number with les girls dancing behind him?
1955 E. Waugh Officers & Gentlemen 178 He had come to the bar for stimulus, for a spot of pleasantry with ‘les girls’.
1967 J. Porter Chinks in Curtain ix. 89 I haven't seen hide or hair of him. He's probably still shacked up with les girls.
1999 J. Rothenberg tr. P. Picasso in Paradise of Poets 105 They go off to the strip joint & see where les girls ‘The Heehaws’ strut their streepchips.
2007 Sunday Times (Nexis) 25 Feb. 63 Ah. Les girls. We start off throwing clothes around everywhere but in the end, we are the ones with the walk-in wardrobes.
P3. to be a big girl now: see big girl n.
P4. boy meets girl: see boy n.1 and int. Phrases 2c.
P5. big girl's blouse: see big girl's blouse at blouse n. 3b.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.
girl life n.
ΚΠ
1854 Daily Argus & Democrat (Madison, Wisconsin) 25 Nov. ‘No,’ replied the child, ‘Not till I am twenty-five. I have not half done my girl life yet.’
1888 Athenæum 26 May 659/3 A well meaning..story of girl-life.
1992 N.Y. Times 13 Dec. ix. 13/4 ‘I had the usual girl life,’ Ms. Karan says... ‘I mean I never thought, “Oh, My God, I'm Going to Be a Designer”!’
girl nature n.
ΚΠ
1846 S. F. Cooper Elinor Wyllys I. iii. 33 Although well-versed in natural philosophy, this excellent gentleman proved himself quite ignorant of boy and girl nature.
1908 W. Campbell Daulac i. i, in Poet. Trag. 131 I cannot reveal all to so pure a soul. This sweet girl-nature, like a limpid brook.
1999 M. Myers in P. R. Feldman & T. M. Kelley Romantic Women Writers i. 89 Down-at-the-heels governesses out to make a pound and vent their grievances against girl nature.
girl tragedy n.
ΚΠ
1860 W. T. Coggeshall Poets & Poetry of West 290 The principal poem in this volume is a respectable girl-tragedy, of the school that has since blossomed into the sensational literature of the Eastern periodical press.
1932 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 12 Apr. 2/5 Ages of men have little to do with girl tragedies... Men with tendencies to philander live in a dangerous age all the time.
2005 Agence France Presse (Nexis) 12 Jan. Two medical workers punished over girl tragedy.
C2. Appositive.
a. Indicating sex: female; that is a girl.
girl cadet n.
ΚΠ
1887 Times 9 Feb. 5/5 The platform was occupied..by the girl cadets in the training home, who wore white scarves over their uniforms.
1945 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 3 Mar. 8/4 So far this training of girl cadets is unauthorized.
2007 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) 22 Apr. 4 (headline) Girl cadet hailed for her life-saving quick thinking.
girl child n.
ΚΠ
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Child,..4. A girl child.
1886 Longman's Mag. 646 A very great number of the girl-children of the State have found happy homes in Canada.
1906 Daily Chron. 25 June 6/6 One girl-child was born..to a noted man of science.
2005 Asian Age 28 Sept. 6/2 More women are willing to report the birth of girl children to local workers than to thanedars.
girl clerk n.
ΚΠ
1870 Harper's Mag. Feb. 417/2 Handing in his message, he surveyed the girl-clerk quietly.
1960 Wisconsin Stud. Contemp. Lit. 1 47 Wallas eyes the attractive girl clerk with evident erotic interest.
2003 Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News (Nexis) 21 Sept. d1 ‘Oh, what a beautiful baby,’ a girl clerk said as she approached Charlotte. ‘You must be a proud mom.’
girl graduate n.
ΚΠ
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess Prol. 7 Sweet girl-graduates in their golden hair.
1969 Daily Tel. 5 Feb. 15/1 The girl graduate, however high-powered her degree, is very often unemployable.
1997 Internat. Rev. Educ. 43 431 A girl graduate from Grade 10 has a better chance of getting training.
girl-miser n.
ΚΠ
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. vi. 54 I..saw you sitting there, like the ghost of a girl-miser, in the dead of the night.
1956 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 9 Aug. 59/5 Mark was Broadway's biggest Girl-Miser.
girl sculler n.
ΚΠ
1920 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 27 Dec. 11/5 Victoria and Vancouver girls are clever with the oars, particularly the girl scullers of the Vancouver Rowing Club.
2005 Gloucester Citizen (Nexis) 30 July 49 It's time the girl scullers stepped up and matched the seniors Olympic performances.
girl singer n.
ΚΠ
1887 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 22 Jan. ‘Patti scholarships’ for the benefit of prominent girl singers.
1991 G. Burn Alma Cogan (1992) vi. 123 The curtains open on a high-kicking chorus, who are followed by the compère who tells a few jokes before introducing a girl singer who lip-synchs.
girl soldier n.
ΚΠ
1863 Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Weekly Tribune 18 Feb. A girl soldier has been discovered in the camp of the 10th Ohio cavalry at Cleveland.
1944 E. Blunden Shells by Stream 34 Girl-soldiers hasten.
2005 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 1 Dec. 46/1 The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka had a Baby Brigade and called their girl soldiers ‘Birds of Freedom’.
girl sorter n.
ΚΠ
1894 Daily News 28 Mar. 3/1 10,000 notices of withdrawal..are handed to a roomful of ‘girl sorters’.
1938 Winnipeg Free Press 10 Sept. 1/5 At 5 o'clock the girl sorter in the laundry was horrified to see a bundle of clothing moving back and forth.
1998 K. Staudt Policy, Politics & Gender ii. iv. 86 A contrast to the girl sorters' usual household work in knee-deep garbage recycling.
girl warrior n.
ΚΠ
1894 Dublin Rev. Oct. 309 Leaders to whom the triumphs of the girl-warrior were a reproach.
1958 Jrnl. Aesthetics & Art Crit. 16 439 In the play The Rainbow Pass, a girl warrior falls in love with the enemy general who has killed her husband.
2006 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 16 Dec. j12 Pierce writes a lot about girl warriors. Fearless and athletic, they represent the kind of girl she would have liked to have been.
girl worker n.
ΚΠ
1869 G. Ellington Women of N.Y. liii. 591 Pouring across the Brooklyn, Jersey and Hoboken ferries, every morning can be seen thousands of little and big girl workers of our city.
1895 Tablet 20 July 108 The girl-workers taking their wages home.
1997 People (Nexis) 12 Oct. 7 [A] radio DJ..has been rapped for urging a man to strip naked, streak across a field and dive into a pool in front of girl workers.
b. Indicating youthfulness.
girl-bride n.
ΚΠ
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. ix. 220 Young Mrs. Rochester—Fairfax Rochester's girl-bride.
1935 Burlington Mag. Mar. 143/2 Quite a young man by the side of his girl-bride.
1997 C. B. Divakaruni Mistress of Spices 54 A girlbride in a sharara seeing for the first time the stooped, wrinkled man her father sold her to.
girl-mother n.
ΚΠ
1841 E. Rigby Resid. Shores Baltic I. xiii. 281 We left the girl-mother to do as she would, and..she proceeded to fold the handkerchief..upon her knee.
a1969 J. Kerouac Visions of Cody (1992) 413 A neighbor girlmother I got thrillingly close to (I remember), all in the parlor of Helen's Mission district pad.
2004 G. Therborn Between Sex & Power ii. v. 172 The fast pace of the book apparently included factual errors and cases of dubious representativity—of infected and wrecked girl mothers in hospital, for instance.
girl-queen n.
ΚΠ
1860 Bay City Press (Green Bay, Wisconsin) 3 Nov. Not among her own subjects has the exceptional history of the Girl-Queen called to so proud a throne, met with more sympathetic responses of generous admiration and interest.
1978 J. Krantz Scruples vi Should she become simply Billy Ikehorn,..the regal girl-queen role she had played so eagerly during her marriage would disintegrate.
2007 Lexington (Kentucky) Herald Leader (Nexis) 6 Apr. 30 Marie Antoinette: Everything about France's girl queen was over the top.
girl-widow n.
ΚΠ
1837 N. Hawthorne Fountain of Youth in Knickerbocker Jan. 32 Inflamed to madness by the coquetry of the girl-widow.
1878 E. A. Allen Jasper Oakes 55 The pitying sailors kindly bore The poor girl-widow back on shore.
2003 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 9 Nov. 7 This gentle and spirited girl-widow was forced into circus life to satisfy European voyeurs until she died of tuberculosis in France in 1816.
girl-wife n.
ΚΠ
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick cxxxii. 598 That young girl-wife I wedded past fifty.
1922 J. Thurber Let. Sept. (2002) 89 Washington is full of pretty men so have a care of your girl-wife as the newspapers say of them.
1986 S. Penman Here be Dragons (1991) (U.K. ed.) i. x. 143 Will Longsword was seated at a table in his brother's chamber, labouring over a letter to his girl-wife.
girl-woman n.
ΚΠ
1833 T. S. Fay Crayon Sketches II. 91 But if your girl-woman is an undesirable individual, your boy-man is one of the greatest nuisances in civilized society.
1977 Time 19 Dec. 66/1 Dickens' strange preoccupation with adolescent girl-women.
2005 Wire Dec. 12/2 Japanese indie pop vocalists like Sonoko, whose childish singing arguably perpetuates stereotypes about gentle, submissive Japanese girl-women.
C3. Objective.
† girl-confining adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1798 W. Sotheby tr. C. M. Wieland Oberon ii. xxxii. 55 The guardian of these girl-confining walls.
girl-crazy adj.
ΚΠ
1914 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 5 Jan. 7/1 Some of those girl-crazy Johnnies they have been taking in lately that would give their pins to a girl.
1948 G. Vidal City & Pillar (1949) x. 251 He was girl crazy, too, I guess.
2005 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 14 Aug. (Inside entertainment section) 3/5 Former Friends star David Schwimmer..has been going girl-crazy.
girl-shy adj.
ΚΠ
1901 Sunny South 1/2 in Atlanta Constit. 5 May Breyten all at once found himself timid, uneasy, foolishly hesitating in front of the house on Wabash street. That is, he was girl-shy, and actually felt like running away.
1982 I. Hamilton Robert Lowell ii. 15 The gawky, girl-shy Lowell soon identified the regime of Brimmer with the regime of 91 Revere Street.
2001 Evening Times (Glasgow) (Nexis) 26 July 30 A pimpled, socially inept, girl-shy loser.
C4. Compounds with girl's or girls'.
girls' school n. (also girls school) a school established for and attended only by girls.
ΚΠ
1707 Acct. Charity-Schools lately erected in Eng., Wales & Ireland (ed. 6) 20 Here is also a Subscription on foot for a Girls school, made by the Ladies.
1816 Times 6 July 2/5 At Hertford, a classical master, two ushers, and two mistresses to the girls' school.
1922 P. G. Wodehouse Let. 24 Jan. in Yours, Plum (1990) i. 25 I've got the plot of a Jeeves story where Bertie visits a girls' school.
2001 J. Franzen Corrections 88 Her mother, a cosmetics-company executive, had fobbed Julia off on her own mother, who'd enrolled her in a Catholic girls' school.
C5.
girl band n. a (pop or rock) band composed entirely or predominantly of (esp. young) female musicians.
ΚΠ
1906 Washington Post 29 June 7/6 Music by the girl band... A female band played on the White Lot yesterday, and the novelty of the affair attracted an immense crowd.
2004 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) (Nexis) 29 Aug. 12 Her style falls somewhere between Hole and British punk-pop girl band Kenickie.
girl-boy n. an effeminate or homosexual boy or man.
ΚΠ
1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) v. xxvi. 115 Girle-boyes, fauouring Ganimæde.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 284 This weake Girl-Boy, in mans shape disguis'd.
1851 Ladies' Repository Mar. 87/1 I thought it an indication of manliness to resist her authority... The epithet I most dreaded was girl-boy.
1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel vii. 94 Gotta fight him—if not you're a girlboy.
2000 Stage (Nexis) 2 Nov. 12 Mani, a delightfully OTT girlboy in his twenties who has abandoned Reykjavik for the more hedonistic cities of Copenhagen and London.
girl crush n. colloquial an intense liking or admiration felt by one girl or woman for another (now esp. in a non-romantic or non-sexual context); (also) a woman or girl who is the object of such feelings.
ΚΠ
1915 N.Y. Med. Jrnl. 13 Mar. 518/1 At each separation from these girl ‘crushes’ she again had an enlarged affection for her mother.
1944 M. E. Dillon Frances Willard v. 75 Segregated schools, from time immemorial, have been familiar with the phenomenon frequently called ‘girl crushes’.
1996 New Woman (Electronic ed.) Dec. 112 A girl crush is in many ways a nonsexual counterpart to the kind of crush you get on a guy.
2009 E. Decter & L. J. Burns The One i. 3 Re-reading this, it seems as if I have some type of girl-crush on my former client.
2013 Sunday Independent (Ireland) (Nexis) 17 Feb. (Mag.) 36 Et voila! Beautiful brows, just like my latest girl crush, Cara Delevinge.
girl group n. (a) a group composed of girls; (b) a (pop or rock) group composed entirely or predominantly of (esp. young) female musicians.
ΚΠ
1867 Times 30 May 6/1 Mr. Sant..seems to us to fall grievously into this fault in many of his pictures this year, particularly in his two girl groups.
1926 Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune 10 Dec. 3/5 All groups of the Little Theatre movement will soon pick names for themselves in order to eliminate the necessity of designating them as ‘the married group’, ‘the mixed group’, and ‘the girl group’.
1966 Los Angeles Times 10 Apr. (Calendar section) 41/3 The Supremes lay further claim to their ranking as No. 1 girl group with ‘I Hear a Symphony’.
1992 Eighteenth-cent. Stud. 25 504 [In some Rococco mythological paintings] the girl group moved to center stage.
2001 J. Franzen Corrections 384 Brian played a track from a girl-group album on his pullout stereo.
girl show n. an entertainment featuring naked or provocatively dressed female performers; = burlesque n. 3b.In quot. 1841: an exhibition of girls.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > variety, etc. > [noun] > striptease
girl show1841
strip1928
teaser1929
strip-tease1936
strip-teasing1937
ecdysiasm1947
full monty1997
1841 R. Browning Pippa Passes iv, in Bells & Pomegranates No. I 15/2 Suppose there's a king of the flowers And a girl-show held in his bowers.
1899 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Morning Jrnl.-Gaz. 11 Nov. 3/3 The play is something of a novelty and differs materially from the other ‘girl’ shows.
1950 J. Lait & L. Mortimer Chicago: Confidential i. vii. 72 Today it is one of the biggest and most brazen strip-teaseries, and advertises itself as ‘Chicago's Biggest Girl Show’.
2004 M. Baldwin Burlesque & New Bump-N-Grind vi. 124 The far-reaching appeal of burlesque comes from the inherent naughtiness of a sexy girl show.
girl talk n. chiefly colloquial words spoken by a woman or girl; conversation between women or girls, esp. about subjects considered to be uninteresting to or inappropriate for men.
ΚΠ
1908 F. W. Bourdillon Preludes & Romances 57 So she prayed; But he, who listened, not the meaning weighed Of her girl talk, but her delicious tone Drank as the very echo of Love's own.
1952 Pacific Affairs 25 189 The confidences imparted to Mrs. Brown..were largely what she terms ‘girl talk’.
2003 S. Mawer Fall (2004) xvi. 251 Meg smiled and asked whether the boys minded just letting them be alone for a sec. ‘Just a sec. Girl talk. We'll be right with you.’
girl trouble n. colloquial (originally U.S.) difficulties resulting from a romantic involvement with (or interest in) a woman or girl; cf. woman trouble n. (a) at woman n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1928 Ogden (Utah) Standard Examiner 22 Apr. b5/2 The suicide of Hans Stengel..was a shock to Broadway... The reason was summed up in Broadway language as ‘girl trouble’.
2007 Mirror (Nexis) 6 Mar. 10 His pal..had girl trouble and was being bullied.
girl watcher n. (a) a woman or girl engaged in observing someone or something; (b) an observer or ogler of women.
ΚΠ
1855 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 27 Oct. The comfortless room where the girl-watcher waits for her dying father.
1958 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 12 June 7 He'd rather be congratulated for being a genius inebriate or a shockproof girlwatcher, than a blind man.
2004 K. Fox Watching Eng. (2005) ii. 341 The assumption that they are in a position to pick and choose among the observed females is never questioned—and conspiring to promote this collective delusion reinforces the social bonds between the girlwatchers.

Derivatives

girl-like adj. and adv.
ΚΠ
1834 W. G. Simms Guy Rivers I. ix. 118 Her hair was unconfined, but short; and rendered the expression of her features more youthful and girl-like than might have been the result of its formal arrangement.
1863 T. Woolner My Beautiful Lady iii. 124 Years before..girllike she Adored a youth with sparkling genius graced.
1959 M. Moore Let. 15 June in Sel. Lett. (1997) 546 Violette Verdy..was perfection..and so charming and girl-like.
1980 J. Yau Radiant Silhoutte (1994) 69 His father's mother..had..curled his long hair, and dressed him in girl-like clothes until he was nearly six.
2006 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 20 Jan. 1 Between cutting vegetables and raking away weeds, she catches her breath, girllike, at the wonder of a blue dragonfly, or the flash of a red bird through the garden.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

girlv.1

Brit. /ɡəːl/, U.S. /ɡərl/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: girl n.
Etymology: < girl n.
1. transitive. To provide with a girl or girls. rare.
ΚΠ
a1635 R. Corbet Poems (1807) 126 Nor hast thou in his nuptiall armes enjoy'd Barren imbraces, but wert girl'd and boy'd.
1852 L. Beardsley Reminiscences v. 87 He would start after the fair one, leading the horse she was to ride; and being equipped, girled, and mounted, they would start for the ball.
1959 Economist 18 Apr. 237/1 Gifts ranged from trinkets to Cadillacs, and on to the ‘loan of a yacht, liquored, fuelled and girled.’
2. transitive. spec. To provide (a vessel) with a female crew or (a workplace) with female staff (as a conscious and sometimes humorous alternative to man v. 1a, 1d).
ΚΠ
1886 J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstrel 53 She oft Quite longs..to ‘girl the boats’.
1916 Times 28 Nov. 4/1 It is not yet fully manned (or should I say girled?), but, when it is, not less than 12,000 munition workers will be running the miles of factories.
1972 Daily Tel. 14 Feb. 9/1 A matey food bar, manned and girled by hippies.
1990 Toronto Star (Nexis) 29 May c4 Both vessels were manned, or rather, boyed and girled, by the members of the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

girlv.2

Brit. /ɡəːl/, U.S. /ɡərl/, Scottish English /ɡɪrl/
Forms: 1800s girrel, 1800s– girl, 1800s– girle, 1900s– girrl.
Origin: Probably a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: grill v.1
Etymology: Probably a variant (by metathesis) of grill v.1 (for which a metathetic variant girl is found in Older Scots in the sense ‘to provoke’: see Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at girl v.).
Scottish. Now rare.
intransitive. To thrill or tingle, esp. with fear or in reaction to a harsh noise. Also: (of machinery) to make a juddering noise.
ΚΠ
1820 J. Hogg Winter Evening Tales I. 336 Ye hae gart a' my flesh girrel, John.
1820 J. Hogg Winter Evening Tales II. 64 Its no deth it feirs me, but the eftir-kum garis my hert girle.
1894 ‘I. Maclaren’ Beside Bonnie Brier Bush vi. ii. 222 Juist like the threshing mill at Drumsheugh scraiking and girling till it's fairly aff.
1923 G. Watson Roxburghshire Word-bk. 147 That chairkin' skeelie gars iz girl.
1927 ‘H. McDiarmid’ Lucky Bag 6 Wi' the jow o' the tide The toom houk dirls And the lady Mune lookin' Scunners and girles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.c1300v.1a1635v.21820
随便看

　

英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。

　

Copyright © 2004-2022 Newdu.com All Rights Reserved
更新时间：2025/1/24 19:17:14