See betty on Wiktionary
Download JSON data for betty meaning in All languages combined (10.2kB)
{
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"etymology_text": "From Betty (nickname for “Elizabeth”). In thieves’ cant a tool for wrenching locked doors is also called a Bess (from “Elizabeth”) or a Jenny. The “attractive woman” sense may relate to the character Betty Rubble in the cartoon The Flintstones.",
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"A short bar used by thieves to wrench doors open; a jimmy."
],
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"(slang) A short bar used by thieves to wrench doors open; a jimmy."
],
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{
"ref": "1958, Will Thomas, To Kingdom Come, page 161",
"text": "After a quick meal at a tea shop, we found ourselves in the hallway at the Midland Hotel, where he removed a skeleton key, or “betty” as he called it, from his pocket and inserted it in the keyhole. […] Once they were out of sight, I fumbled about with the betty for a few moments before the lock finally clicked open.",
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],
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"A picklock, skeleton key; a tool for opening locks."
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"(slang) A picklock, skeleton key; a tool for opening locks."
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"A man who performs tasks that traditionally belong to a woman; (originally) an effeminate or gay man."
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},
{
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"ref": "1841, Acts and Resolutions Passed at the First Session of the Twenty-Seventh Congress of the United States",
"text": "On olive oil in casks, twenty cents per gallon; olive salad oil in bottles or betties, thirty per centum ad valorem",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
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"A pear-shaped bottle covered with straw, in which olive oil is sometimes brought from Italy; a Florence flask."
],
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{
"ref": "2021 November 2, “Apple-Almond Brave Betty”, in Midwest Living",
"text": "A pie-size betty is traditional, but if you like, assemble the recipe in individual ovenproof ramekins.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A baked dessert made with alternating layers of sweetened fruit and buttered bread crumbs."
],
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{
"ref": "1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Cher (Alicia Silverstone)",
"text": "Isn't my house classic? The columns date all the way back to 1972. Wasn't my Mom a betty? She died when I was just a baby. A fluke accident during a routine liposuction. I don't remember her, but I like to pretend she still watches over me.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
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"An attractive woman; a babe."
],
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"babe",
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]
],
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"(slang, slightly pejorative) An attractive woman; a babe."
],
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"_dis1": "1 1 6 1 1 91",
"sense": "attractive woman",
"word": "beautiful woman"
}
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{
"ref": "1976, Michael Crichton, The Great Train Robbery, page 185",
"text": "“Well then,” he said. “Let’s say you can betty the lock, hang on a rope, and break the drum, and then lock up again with nobody the wiser. How do I get on in the first place, past the Scots jack, with his sharp cool?”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2013, Zack Wentz, “Simplicity itself”, in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, volume 10, page 161",
"text": "The forty quid! Gone! ’Ow could she ’ave gotten in there? The peter ain’t broke, no sign of it bein’ bettied, and I the only one w’ the key.",
"type": "quotation"
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],
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]
]
},
{
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{
"ref": "1877 August 16, Julia Dartman, “Aunty Di”, in The Youth’s Companion, page 1",
"text": "“I’m perfectly well, thank you, Miss Hester,” she said, coldly. “I detest being bettied.”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1897, W.H. Rudd, “Johnny cakes”, in The Poultry Monthly, volume XIX, page 371",
"text": "If anything on earth is reprehensible in a man and disgusting to a woman, it is to have said man hen-hussying and bettying about the kitchen",
"type": "quotation"
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],
"glosses": [
"To be overly attentive to someone or something."
],
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"(archaic) To be overly attentive to someone or something."
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"ref": "1958, Will Thomas, To Kingdom Come, page 161",
"text": "After a quick meal at a tea shop, we found ourselves in the hallway at the Midland Hotel, where he removed a skeleton key, or “betty” as he called it, from his pocket and inserted it in the keyhole. […] Once they were out of sight, I fumbled about with the betty for a few moments before the lock finally clicked open.",
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"(slang) A picklock, skeleton key; a tool for opening locks."
],
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"ref": "1841, Acts and Resolutions Passed at the First Session of the Twenty-Seventh Congress of the United States",
"text": "On olive oil in casks, twenty cents per gallon; olive salad oil in bottles or betties, thirty per centum ad valorem",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
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"A pear-shaped bottle covered with straw, in which olive oil is sometimes brought from Italy; a Florence flask."
],
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"ref": "2021 November 2, “Apple-Almond Brave Betty”, in Midwest Living",
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"type": "quotation"
}
],
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"A baked dessert made with alternating layers of sweetened fruit and buttered bread crumbs."
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{
"ref": "1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Cher (Alicia Silverstone)",
"text": "Isn't my house classic? The columns date all the way back to 1972. Wasn't my Mom a betty? She died when I was just a baby. A fluke accident during a routine liposuction. I don't remember her, but I like to pretend she still watches over me.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An attractive woman; a babe."
],
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"(slang, slightly pejorative) An attractive woman; a babe."
],
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{
"sense": "man who performs a woman's tasks",
"word": "cot-betty"
},
{
"sense": "man who performs a woman's tasks",
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},
{
"sense": "man who performs a woman's tasks",
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},
{
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},
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"sense": "bar used by thieves to open doors",
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"ref": "1976, Michael Crichton, The Great Train Robbery, page 185",
"text": "“Well then,” he said. “Let’s say you can betty the lock, hang on a rope, and break the drum, and then lock up again with nobody the wiser. How do I get on in the first place, past the Scots jack, with his sharp cool?”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2013, Zack Wentz, “Simplicity itself”, in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, volume 10, page 161",
"text": "The forty quid! Gone! ’Ow could she ’ave gotten in there? The peter ain’t broke, no sign of it bein’ bettied, and I the only one w’ the key.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To pick a lock, to open with a betty."
],
"links": [
[
"pick",
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],
[
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"lock"
]
]
},
{
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],
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{
"ref": "1877 August 16, Julia Dartman, “Aunty Di”, in The Youth’s Companion, page 1",
"text": "“I’m perfectly well, thank you, Miss Hester,” she said, coldly. “I detest being bettied.”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1897, W.H. Rudd, “Johnny cakes”, in The Poultry Monthly, volume XIX, page 371",
"text": "If anything on earth is reprehensible in a man and disgusting to a woman, it is to have said man hen-hussying and bettying about the kitchen",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To be overly attentive to someone or something."
],
"links": [
[
"attentive",
"attentive"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(archaic) To be overly attentive to someone or something."
],
"tags": [
"archaic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/bɛti/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɛti"
},
{
"audio": "En-au-betty.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/12/En-au-betty.ogg/En-au-betty.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/En-au-betty.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"sense": "bar used by thieves to open doors",
"word": "bettee"
},
{
"word": "Betty"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Betty Rubble",
"Green's Dictionary of Slang"
],
"word": "betty"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.