floozy
/ˈfluːzi
/(also floosie, floozie)
noun (plural floozies) informal
A girl or a woman who has many casual sexual partners: they were attacked for canoodling with floozies in nightclubs...
- This at first appears to be a forgotten reference to the round-heeled shoes worn by floozies in some historical period though, in fact having round heels just means she's more likely to fall over on her back: to be, literally, a pushover.
- The long scene in which James lies in Josie's arms and confesses his worst sin - that he missed his mother's funeral because he was holed up drunk with a floozy - becomes a stirring act of sexual healing.
- Receiving an anonymous tip that her husband is fooling around with a floozy named Bridget the woman goes stomping out into the terrified city, bent on revenge.
Origin
Early 20th century: perhaps related to flossy or to dialect floosy 'fluffy'.
These days floozy (or floozie) has a dated feel, and is only really used in jokey contexts. It is not that old a word, though, and does not seem to have been used before the 20th century. It might come from the English dialect word floosy, meaning ‘fluffy, soft’, or from flossy (mid 19th century), which is literally ‘like silk, silky’ but can mean ‘saucy, cheeky’, or ‘showy, flashy’ in the USA.