bitch
/bɪtʃ
/noun
1A female dog, wolf, fox, or otter.A female puppy or bitch reaches sexual maturity at roughly the same age as a male; however, there are variations among breeds and individuals....
- Both horses and hounds had central heating by flues and the dog kennel alone measured 405 feet long with numerous separate compartments for bitches, puppies and dogs.
- And, yes, being canine, a female wolf could also be called a bitch.
2 informal A spiteful or unpleasant woman.Watching that smile fade in to horror as she saw herself depicted as a two-faced, backstabbing, malicious bitch was even more priceless....
- Well, some girls specialise in married men because they're dumb, nasty bitches who genuinely dislike other women.
- I was being labeled as a volatile, malicious bitch, and whenever anyone said anything to me, they would cower slightly, as if they were just waiting for me to lash out at them.
Synonyms
shrew, vixen, she-devil, hellcat
informal cow, cat
archaic grimalkin
2.1 offensive A woman.It's music made by cool bitches for cool bitches like me.
2.2 informal A person who is completely subservient to another.They're just being Vince's little bitches....
- We're not totally against the idea, but only if he appears as Jar Jar's bitch.
- Who's going to be the bitch now?
3 (a bitch) informal A difficult or unpleasant situation or thing: working the night shift is a bitch...
- Also, nightshifts are a bitch to write blogposts in.
- What a bitch, what an absolute and complete bitch.
- It's a bitch being so multi-talented - an ideal host, an excellent chef, a friend to the stars, a masterful party DJ.
Synonyms
nightmare
informal bastard, bummer, … from hell, swine, pig, stinker
vulgar slang bugger, sod
complaint, moan, grumble, gripe, grouse, grouch
informal beef, whinge, bellyache
4 informal A complaint: my big bitch is that there’s nothing new here...
- My chiefest bitch is neither the hardware nor the software nor the infrastructure have any feedback mechanism whatsoever.
verb [no object] informal
Make spitefully critical comments: everybody was bitching about their colleagues...
- So presumably she won't be doing what she did with the first film, bitching about it, changing her mind close to release and saying it's wonderful, then going on in interviews afterwards about how it really was rubbish after all.
- It feels good to have taken a break and come together with some like-minded people (even it is a common fault of expats everywhere that they sit around tables bitching about the local population).
- The premise is that wealthy footballers are thick and self-absorbed, and that their spouses have little option but to while away long hours plotting affairs and bitching about each other.
Synonyms
be spiteful about, criticize, find fault with, run down, cast aspersions on, speak ill of, slander, malign;
complain, moan, grumble, grouse, grouch, gripe
informal whinge, knock, pull to pieces, take apart, do a hatchet job on
North American informal bad-mouth, trash
British informal slag off, rubbish
Origin
Old English bicce, of Germanic origin.
Old English bicce has a Germanic source. Whether there is a relationship between the English word and French biche meaning both ‘bitch’ and ‘fawn’ is not known. The derogatory reference to a woman as a ‘bitch’ arose in late Middle English.