or huswife, hussy, subs. (colloquial).—1. Primarily, a house-keeper. Hence (a) a domestic servant; (b) a wanton or a gad-about wench; and (c) a comic endearment. Hence, too, HOUSEWIFERY, subs., and HOUSEWIFE’S TRICKS = the habit of wantonness, the practice of men.
1508. Gawain and Gologras, ‘Ballade.’ (PINKERTON, Scottish Poems, 1792, iii.). A gude HUSY-WIFE ay rinning in the toun.
1589. PUTTENHAM, Art of English Poesie, 1589, ii., 16 (ed. ARBER, p. 148). Half lost for lack of a good HUSWIFE’S looking to.
1600. Look About You, Sc. 28 (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 476). HUSWIFE, I’ll have you whipp’d for sland’ring me.
1602. SHAKESPEARE, Twelfth Night, i. 2. I hope to see some HOUSEWIFE take thee between her legs and spin it off.
1659. Lady Alimony, iii., 3 (DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 331).
| And if the HUSSY challenge more, | |
| Charm th’ maundering gossip with your roar. | |
| Idem, iii., 6 (p. 340). | |
| If I make not these haxters as hateful to our HUSSIES as ever they were to us who were their husbands, set me up for a Jack-a-Lent. |
1872. RAY, Proverbs, s.v., CAT. Cats eat what HUSSIES spare.
1673. WYCHERLEY, The Gentleman Dancing-Master, iv., 1. What, HUSSY, would you not do as he’d have you?
1694. CONGREVE, The Double Dealer, iv., 3. When I was of your age, HUSSY, I would have held fifty to one I could have drawn my own picture.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v.
1697. VANBRUGH, Æsop, i., 1. Hark you HUSSY. You can give yourself airs sometimes, you know you can.
1708. CENTLIVRE, The Busy Body, iv., 2. I’ll charm you, HOUSEWIFE. Here lies the charm that conjured this fellow in.
1708. PRIOR, Poems (Aldine ed. ii, 270), ‘The Insatiable Priest.’
| To suppress all his carnal desires in their birth, | |
| At all hours a lusty young HUSSY is near. |
1720. SWIFT, Poems, ‘A Portrait’ (CHALMERS, English Poets, 1810, xi., 448). A HOUSEWIFE in bed, at table a slattern.
1728. SWIFT, Poems, ‘My Lady’s Lamentations’ (CHALMERS, English Poets, 1810, xi., 460).
| Consider, before | |
| You come to three score, | |
| How the HUSSIES will fleer | |
| Whene’er you appear. |
1731. COFFEY, The Devil to Pay, Sc. 1. Don’t you know, HUSSY, that I am King in my own House, and that this is Treason against my Majesty.
1732. FIELDING, The Mock Doctor, i. Greg. Ay, HUSSY, a regular Education; first at the Charity-School, where I learnt to read.
1751. SMOLLETT, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xviii. He supposed the object of his love was some paltry HUSSY, whom he had picked up when he was a boy at school.
d. 1764. R. LLOYD, Poems (1774), ‘Chit-Chat.’
| Lud! I could beat the HUSSEY down, | |
| She’s poured it all upon my gown. |
1768. GOLDSMITH, The Good-Natured Man, ii. And you have but too well succeeded, you little HUSSY, you.
1771. SMOLLETT, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (ed. 1800, p. 43). And I have been twice in the bath with mistress and na’r a smock upon our backs, HUSSY.
1782. HANNAH COWLEY, A Bold Stroke for a Husband, i., 2. Don C. Now, HUSSY, what do you expect?
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1786. BURNS, The Inventory.
| Frae this time forth, I do declare, | |
| I’se ne’er ride horse nor HIZZIE mair. |
1822. SCOTT, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxii. Say nothing of that, HOUSEWIFE,… or I will beat thee—beat thee with my staff.
1829. C. A. SOMERSET, The Day After the Fair, i. Fid. Oh, you HUZZY! so you were Madame Maypole!
1893. R. LE GALLIENNE, Introduction to W. HAZLITT’S Liber Amoris, p. xliv. To think of poor Hazlitt gravely lavishing his choice Elizabethan quotations on the HUSSEY.
2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see MONOSYLLABLE.
