subs. (old).—A whore: see TART: also SHE-TRADER and TRADING DAME. Hence THE TRADE = harlotry.
1678. COTTON, Scarronides, or Virgile Travestie (1770), 72.
| That she … | |
| Now car’d no more for her good Name, | |
| Than any common TRADING DAME. |
1682. A. RADCLIFFE, The Ramble, 45. ‘Vpon the Pyramid.’
| Ah London th’adst better have built new Burdellos, | |
| T’encourage SHE-TRADERS and lusty young Fellows. |
d. 1796. BURNS [The Merry Muses (c. 1800), 52].
| Our dame hauds up her wanton tail | |
| As aft as she gaes lie; | |
| An’ yet misca’s a young thing, | |
| The TRADE if she but try. |
