showgirln.
/ˈʃəʊɡəːl/, U.S. /ˈʃoʊˌɡərl/ΚΠ
1750 S. Richardson Corr. (1804) III. 279 ‘We show-girls,’ said a certain single lady..‘never get husbands.’
1811 A. G. Johnstone Rhydisel x. 215 Indeed, I always regarded that sort of person as a show girl, a trap, a flam, a bait, a gull, a take-in.
1814 M. Edgeworth Patronage I. vi. 203 The girls are mere show girls—like a myriad of others, sing—play—dance, dress, flirt, and all that.
1874 Dublin Univ. Mag. Mar. 576/1 The younger of the sisters..was the show-girl of the family.
2. A young woman employed by a dressmaker, costumier, etc., to model clothes. Cf. show-woman n. 3. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > modelling or displaying clothing > [noun] > model
showgirl1816
show-woman1848
mannequin1893
trier on1895
model1904
fashion-model1962
model girl1962
male model1975
1816 A. Lefanu Strathallan III. viii. 187 One who would not be fit to be show girl in a milliner's shop.
1890 Good Housek. 4 Jan. 112/1 She has some very pretty show girls simply to try on the hats and bonnets for customers to see.
1929 Punch 17 Apr. 444/3 Not the least interesting thing about these parades is that among the show-girls are many well-known titled heiresses, doing it purely for cigarette-money.
1936 J. B. Priestley They walk in City i. 16 Manniekin. One o' them show girls in the big shops.
3. A female performer who sings and dances in variety acts, musicals, or similar shows.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor playing specific type of part > with little or nothing to say
property boy1685
supernumerary1755
walking gentleman1769
walking lady1769
figurant1775
statist1807
showgirl?1836
super1838
walker-on1876
property child1885
supe1885
walk-on1923
spear-carrier1960
?1836 G. Soane Lilian, Show Girl i. ii. 8 The tinsel dress of the poor show girl.
1837 New Sporting Mag. June 409 Young women..with the expression of show-girls at Gyngell's travelling theatre at Greenwich fair.
1885 Sporting Times 5 Sept. 3/4 It is perfectly heart-breaking to be confronted with nothing less antique than a Gaiety chorister, less hideous than a Drury Lane show girl.
1903 ‘C. E. Merriman’ Lett. from Son xv. 208 Not quite all the modern Venuses have been corralled for the ‘show-girl’ department of musical comedy.
1923 A. C. Train His Children's Children xv. 192 He found it hard to believe that she was an actress, and a show-girl at that.
1976 L. St. Clair Fortune in Death xiii. 126 Blonde showgirls..in plumed headdresses and rhinestoned G-strings.
2015 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 16 Jan. 31 Scores of aspiring starlets learned the alchemy of the perfect showgirl..as they strutted, thrust and spun their lithe bodies at an audition for ‘Jubilee’.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > place of amusement or entertainment > fairground or amusement park > [noun] > fun fair > worker > girl in charge of booth
showgirl1912
1912 A. Bennett Matador of Five Towns & Other Stories 91 The showmen and the showgirls and the showboys were titivating their booths.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1750