pro-life

en-adj

pro-life (comparative more pro-life, superlative most pro-life)

more pro-life (comparative)
most pro-life (superlative)

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Anti-abortion movements
Pro-life (disambiguation)

They were pro-life except in cases of rape, incest, or risk to the life or health of the mother.

Of, pertaining to, or supportive of the right to life; believing that life should be protected from its beginning to natural death in all or most circumstances.

(chiefly US) Opposed to the practice or legalization of abortion.

(specifically) Opposed to the legalization of euthanasia.

2005, Guerrilla Apologetics for Life Issues, page 60:

(specifically) Opposed to the legalization of capital punishment.

Suicidal people can have discussions about suicide on pro-life peer-to-peer forums and hotlines without fear of judgment or intervention.

2016, Jennings Brown, The sordid history of the first sanctioned suicide forum:


pro-choice

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Individualism, self-determination, and pro-choice rhetorics are additional cultural discourses that play into this experience as well: the ability to make your own choices in life and to be able to succeed with those choices is the quintessential American dream.

2010, Sara Hayden, Contemplating Maternity in an Era of Choice, page 102:

Supportive in general of a person's right to choose; supportive of self-determination, bodily integrity, and individual sovereignty.


soccer mom

A woman with school-age children, likely boys, especially one who spends time transporting them between sporting activities.


black widow

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A female suicide bomber, sometimes one intending to avenge her husband who was killed.


distaff

From Middle English distaf (“distaff”), from Old English distæf (“distaff”), from *dis- (“bunch of flax”) (cognate with Middle Low German dise (“bunch of flax on a distaff”)) + stæf (“staff”) (from Proto-Germanic *stabaz (“staff, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ-). Senses 3 and 5 (“anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only”; “a woman, or women considered as a group”) refer to the fact that spinning was traditionally done by women.


call girl

→ Cebuano: call girl

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-call girl.wav

(informal) A female prostitute who is hired by telephone.


franger

Unknown; perhaps an alteration of french letter.

You have a point. But on the other hand, I didn't run off and tell mum with a six pack in one hand and an open franger packet in the other.

1999 November 4, Egan Blinkhorn, “Pirate Pay TV”, in aus.tv.pay (Usenet):

Ranpaging^([sic]) Roy Slaven & HG Nelson who are comedians of the host broadcaster's Olympic graveyard shift have said that 48,000 of the frangers are for the personal use of the mayor of the Olympic village - 'Richo'. they claim the rest are for the Cuban team who when they have finished their events are going at it like rabbits.

2000 September 22, rhay10, “Sydney 2000 -Too sexy for some.....”, in rec.travel.australia+nz (Usenet):

The barber would say while he was cutting a grown-up′s hair, ‘Do you need any home supplies, sir?’ which is the secret code for a packet of frangers.

2001, Bryce Courtenay, Four Fires, unnumbered page:

Gone are the terms we used in our youth the frenchies, frangers, rubbers, joes, french letters, gumboots, rubbers, johnnies, parachutes and plastic fantastics -- these days they're just condoms.

2002 February 7, Janine Burgess, “Armour against pleasure?”, in The Timaru Herald:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) A condom.


diva

From Italian diva (“diva, goddess”), from Latin dīva (“goddess”), female of dīvus (“divine, divine one; notably a deified mortal”), from Old Latin deivā, from Proto-Italic *deiwā (“goddess”), feminine of *deiwos (“god”), from Proto-Indo-European *deywós (“god”).

Any female celebrity, usually a well known singer or actress.


nymphet

From nymph + -et (“diminutive”), first attested 1612. The second sense was popularized by Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita.

[…] the fey grace, the elusive, shifty, soul-shattering, insidious charm that separates the nymphet from such coevals of hers […]

1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 1, page 19:

A sexually attractive girl or young woman.


emerita

head

emerita (plural emeritae, masculine singular emeritus)

emeritae (plural)
emeritus (masculine singular)

From the Latin ēmerita, the feminine singular form of ēmeritus.

And the older women faculty, the emeritae lived around the college and you talked to them and you heard it ... you know, they were just devoted to that place body and soul, and they didn’t care if they made two bent nickels a year, […]

1988, Nadya Aisenberg, Mona Harrington, Women of Academe: Outsiders in the Sacred Grove, University of Massachusetts Press, →ISBN, page 187:

With the help of ever-present chief elder Charlotte McGuire and our headquarters, an updated list of all Board members was developed. Twenty-eight persons who are now emeritae were named.

1991, American Holistic Nurses' Association, Beginnings, page 3:

In 1939, when I arrived, women made up a slight majority of the Smith faculty. The oldest of the emeritae were such relics as Elizabeth Hanscomb, who had taught one of the first American literature courses in the country some time in the 1890s.

2007, Daniel Aaron, The Americanist, University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 69:

Although by no means a card-carrying feminist—and who was in those days, besides some shapeless, tweedy, old left-over suffragettes among the emeritae?—I knew from that time onward that I was not going to be one of those model domestic women.

2008, Linda Nochlin, A Life of Learning, pages 15–16:

A female person who is retired from active service or an occupation, especially one who retains an honorific version of a previous title.

emerita

retired female person, especially one who retains an honorific version of a previous title


motherhood statement

en-noun

motherhood statement (plural motherhood statements)

Probably from the fact that virtually everyone would say that motherhood is a positive thing.

[A]n objective needs to be followed up by some specific form of measurement or it is meaningless – It is a motherhood statement.

1976, Canadian Electronics Engineering, volume 20, Toronto, Ont.: Maclean-Hunter, →ISSN, →OCLC, page ccviii:

Technology transfer and the principle of making useful research and development information available to all public sectors is now being endorsed by everybody. I really don't know anybody who objects. As a matter of fact, by now it has become a motherhood statement. The question is, how do we achieve the blessed state of motherhood?

1979 June 12, Andrew Assur (witness), “Statement of Dr. Andrew Assur, Chief Scientist, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, N.H.”, in The Role of the Federal Laboratories in Domestic Technology Transfer: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, […] (House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology; no. 96-77), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 80:

When English judges speak of rights they often do so in terms that are usually imprecise and lacking in clear principle. The problem is worsened by the frequent judicial recourse to motherhood statements, which are not simply imprecise but provide generalised statements that are difficult to disagree with at a conceptual level. […] [M]otherhood statements assume or imply the existence of what [Martin] Loughlin described as an 'imaginary consensus' on important doctrinal principles.

2008, Matthew Groves, “The Surrogacy Principle and Motherhood Statements in Administrative Law”, in Linda Pearson, Carol Harlow, Michael Taggart, editors, Administrative Law in a Changing State: Essays in Honour of Mark Aronson, Oxford, Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, →ISBN, page 93:

At worst, the term ‘ownership’ becomes a ‘motherhood statement’ which, whilst always sounding worthy, can be entirely lacking in specified content. The term ownership is used to imply varying degrees of local control that are typically not realized.

2009, Simon Chesterman, “Ownership in Theory and in Practice: Transfer of Authority in UN Statebuilding Operations”, in David Chandler, editor, Statebuilding and Intervention: Policies, Practices and Paradigms, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 34:

One could say that at least Culpo's response referred to something specific in her life, and was not just the typical motherhood statement expected of polished beauty contestants – the proverbial Miss Universe answer.

2012 December 21, Rose-an Jessica Dioquino, Gian C. Geronimo, “Janine impresses in Q&A, says Miss Universe needs ‘strong mind’”, in GMA News and Public Affairs, Quezon City, archived from the original on 2018-12-17:

(chiefly Canada, US) A vague, feel-good platitude, especially one made by a politician, that most people would agree with.


dysmenorrhea

dysmenorrhea (countable and uncountable, plural dysmenorrheas)

From dys- + meno- + -rrhea = dys- + menorrhœa.

premenstrual syndrome

in which menstrual pain is often a component

(medicine) Painful menstruation (menstrual pain), viewed as a symptom in any of various disorders.


colposcopy

(medicine) The examination of the tissues of the vagina and cervix using a colposcope.


grandma

don't try to teach grandma how to suck eggs


nanna

Possibly derived from Proto-Celtic *nana (“grandmother”); probably from a Proto-Indo-European root imitative of a child speaking, similar to Ancient Greek νάννα (nánna). See also nanny, Sicilian nanna.

onomatopoeic

imitative


airwoman

A woman who flies in an aircraft; a female aviator.


cougar

From French couguar, from Portuguese cuguardo, a deformation of Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana (earlier çuçuarana), perhaps from Old Tupi suasuarana (“deerlike animal”), from suasú (“deer”); compare sɨwasuarána (“cervine”)) or perhaps from Guaraní guaçuara).

A cougar approached Warren at the Palomino Club and asked for a dance.

I am 26 years old and in a respectful but super-sexual relationship with a recent divorcée in her 40s. (A "cougar," in local slang.)

[2001 June 7, Dan Savage, “Count Every Vote”, in The Stranger:

Barney Stinson: She's a cougar, Ted! / Robin Scherbatsky: I thought you said you can't be a cougar if you're over 50.

2010, “Home Wreckers”, in How I Met Your Mother, season 5, episode 20 (television production):

“Younger can be good. How much younger?” Regina asked, inspecting the appetizer plates for any lingering bites. “I don't know,” Alexa said frowning. “Why does that matter?” “Less than eight years makes you a Puma. Over eight years makes you a Cougar,” Regina said wisely, grinning as Lauren nodded excitedly in agreement.

2011, Donna McDonald, Dating A Cougar, →ISBN:

(Canada, US, slang) An older woman who actively seeks the casual, often sexual, companionship of younger men, by implication a female “sexual predator”.

kotka

slang: older woman who seeks younger men


air hostess

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(UK, aviation) A female flight attendant; a stewardess.


gammy

en-adj

gammy (comparative gammier, superlative gammiest)

gammier (comparative)
gammiest (superlative)

Origin obscure and uncertain. Possibly from the English dialectal (North Midlands) adjective game (“lame”), Welsh cam (“crooked”), or from Irish cam (“bent”), by way of Shelta. Compare also Old Occitan gambi (“lame, limping”), related to Old Occitan gamba (“leg”) (see also French jambe (“leg”), English gam (“leg”)).

I have got a gammy leg, and can't walk far.

In spring 2009, three years after he suffered a stroke that spared him intellectually but left him with a cane and a gammy right side, Conway delivered a six-part lecture series on his latest brainchild: The Free Will Theorem, devised with his Princeton colleague Simon Kochen.

2005, Siobhan Roberts, John Horton Conway: the world’s most charismatic mathematician, in: The Guardian, July 23rd 2015

I'm not exactly spectacular at the moment with a gammy knee that sometimes lets me down and hair that looks as if it's been cut with a knife and fork.

2009, Abigail Gordon, A Summer Wedding at Willowmere, page 31:

Injured, or not functioning properly (with respect to legs).


something for the weekend

When they had finished your haircut and were moving towards the till, they would lean over, pull a display box from behind a row of hair potions on the shelf, finger the box which you then saw contained condoms – normally Durex in those days – and ask, “Something for the weekend, Sir?” – even if it was only Monday! The first few times this happened to me was around 1955 and after having just left school and started work, I was extremely naïve and hadn't a clue what the barber meant.

2009, David Fowler, National Service, Elvis and Me!, page 69:


floozie

Corruption of flossy in the sense of showy.

A bunch of ugly-looking gangsters had taken the joint over for a big party, and they were all wobbling around the floor with their floozies, so drunk they could hardly stand.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “If You Can’t Make Money”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 3 (1928–1935: The Big Apple), page 183:

«Sure thing. You going with that little Mexican floozy?»

1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 13, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 1:

Now I was a forsaken codger snuffling disgracefully from a beautiful floozy's abuse.

1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 418:

[T]he lead singer found his girlfriend bumping uglies in the dark with the roadie. But then said singer was with a blonde floozie himself—see what being on an L.A. trash-band bill can do to ya?

1984 September 27, Serena, “L.A. Dee Da: On The Streets”, in L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles, page 46:

A vulgar or sexually promiscuous woman; a hussy or slattern.


tante

Borrowed from Yiddish טאַנטע (tante), from German Tante, from French tante.

(usually in forms of address) A Jewish aunt.


stretch mark

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Nobody in Cameron's family has stretch marks, and he thinks it's because their tissues grow slowly enough for the skin to catch up.

She hadn't even looked pregnant, especially with her clothes on. She'd gotten only one stretch mark. A thin, jagged line on her left booty cheek.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 99:

(dermatology) Any of a series of red (or purple or faded), irregular stripes on the surface of the skin caused by rapid growth of the tissues lying just underneath. They may appear as a result of pregnancy, puberty, obesity, rapid muscle growth or family history.


blowsabella

18th-century Great Britain. From a character in John Gay's 1714 poem The Shepherd's Week.

So ridiculous was Waller's second wife in the eyes of Johnson, even with Tetty, his own red-faced Blowsabella, vividly surviving in his remembrance!

1864, Charles Kent, “Edmund Waller—The Court Poet”, in Footprints on the Road, page 211:

Before his beard was grey, he took to wife the offspring of one of his own tenants; a buxom Blousalinda, who outlived all his brutality, and buried him at last, more decently than he deserved; though she professed herself heart-broken before the honeymoon had waned.

1869, George Alfred Lawrence, Sans Merci, or, Kestrels and falcons, page 29:

This was no Blowsabella, this was no buxom, forward, romping girl, to meet with a reward for her folly.

1888, Margaret Oliphant, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, The Second Son, Macmillan and Company, page 216:

(obsolete) A rural woman; a country wench.


vaginismus

en-noun

vaginismus (usually uncountable, plural vaginismuses)

(pathology) A painful muscular contraction of the vagina when attempting to insert something, such as a tampon or a penis, into it.


let-down

let-down (countable and uncountable, plural let-downs)

The majority of peasant farmers in the tropics allow the calf to suckle before milking in order to obtain a let-down of milk.

1990, WJA Payne, An Introduction to Animal Husbandry in the Tropics:

Occasionally a baby will be caught off-guard by mother's strong let-down and he will choke and sputter a bit.

2004, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 7th edition, Penguin, page 54:

Through oxytocin mediation, these afferent pathways become so well established that letdown can occur even when the mother merely thinks of her baby.

2010, Jan Riordan, Karen Wamback, Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, 4th edition, Jones & Bartlett, page 91:

(countable, uncountable) The neurohormonal release of milk in dairy cows or in breastfeeding human mothers.


man-eater

And particularly, he knows where to find the primitive substance of the man eater: howsoever evaporate or reduced, as it were, into air or vapour, by sweat or perspiration.

1776, Thomas Boston, The Human Nature in its Fourfold State, page 336:

Man-eaters are more newsworthy than three-foot-long harmless sharks with tiny teeth.

1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 146:

His origin amongst monsters and man-eaters signals the play's recurrent concerns with monstrification, with eating others or being eaten by them, and with issues of specularity […]

1995, Bradley William Johnson, Birthed Effects: Shakespeare's Generation of Monsters, page 67:

An animal that attacks and kills humans for food, such as certain tigers or sharks; any animal that consumes human flesh.

For how a race of Man-eaters should spring up in these islands, when none of the nations on the continents from whence they must derive their original are charged with these savage customs, is not easy to conceive[.]

1724, Thomas Salmon, Modern History, Or, The Present State of All Nations, page 287:

A stout ferocious-looking fellow, with muscular bandy legs, came in as I was conversing on the subject of cannibalism, and was pointed out to me as a celebrated marksman and man eater.

1827 February 2, The Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, Hobart, page 2, column 2:

A cannibal; a human that eats other humans.

Coordinate term: lady-killer

"That only proves she has affairs with them too. She's a man-eater."

1945, Norman Lindsay, The Cousin from Fiji, page 233:

Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up / (Oh-oh, here she comes) / She's a maneater

1982, Hall & Oates (lyrics and music), “Maneater”, in H₂O:

(by extension, slang) A seductive dangerous woman, often readily taking and discarding male romantic partners.


seductress

Even though she didn't think of herself as a seductress, her effect on men showed she was one.


hoity-toity

hoity-toity (countable and uncountable, plural hoity-toities)

Probably from hoit (“to behave frivolously and thoughtlessly; to play the fool”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.

suffix

Whily Kate the Brown, the Plump, / The Frowzy Browzy, / Hoyty Toyty, / Covent-Garden Harridan, / Soon made poor Jockey’s Head to Ake, / And spoyl’d him for a merry Man.

1719, [Thomas] d’Urfey, “The Scotch Cuckold: A New Song to a Northern Tune”, in Songs Compleat, Pleasant and Divertive; […], volume I, London: […] W. Pearson, for J[acob] Tonson, […], published 19th century, →OCLC, page 255:

(countable, British, dialectal) A young woman regarded as flighty, giddy, or silly.


Pap smear

From Papanikolaou. Named after Greek-American physician Georgios Papanikolaou.

named-after

She felt vulnerable, like sheʼd just gotten her first Pap smear and didnʼt know how invasive it would feel.

2021, Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl, Bloomsbury, page 344:

(gynaecology) A screening test meant to detect pre-cancerous and cancerous cells by taking a sample (‘smear’) of cells from the cervix.


women's lib

women's liberation
women's liberation#English

(informal) Clipping of women's liberation.: the feminist movement for equal rights; women's liberation


bluestocking

→ Dutch: blauwkous (calque)

→ French: bas-bleu (calque)

→ English: basbleu

→ Italian: bas-bleu

→ German: Blaustrumpf (calque)

Barebones Parliament
Benjamin Stillingfleet
Blue Stockings Society
Elizabeth Montagu
bluestocking

From the 17th century. Originally in reference to blue stockings worn by men as opposed to more expensive white stockings. First associated with the Barebones Parliament in the 17th century, then with a series of literary salons which admitted female intellectuals in the 18th century; in particular the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society led by Elizabeth Montagu on the Parisian model. The term was not originally derogatory.
None of the ladies wore blue stockings. The first recorded use of the term is in reference to Benjamin Stillingfleet. He was not rich enough to have the proper formal dress, which included black silk stockings and so he attended in everyday blue worsted stockings.

pedia

Benjamin Stillingfleet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

(historical) The English parliament of 1653, more commonly called the Barebones Parliament


townswoman

From town + -s- + -woman, on the model of townsman.

A woman who is a resident of a town, especially of one's own town.


periodicity

en-noun

periodicity (countable and uncountable, plural periodicities)

From French périodicité. By surface analysis, periodic + -ity.

Recurrence of a woman's periods; menstruation.


aken

en-verb

aken (third-person singular simple present akens, present participle akenning, simple past and past participle akenned)

akens (present singular third-person)
akenning (participle present)
akenned (participle past)
akenned (past)

From Old English ācennan or gecennan, equivalent to a- + cennan (“to give birth to”).

(obsolete) To bear, give birth to. (Usually in the past participle.)


barrier method

A means of contraception involving an impenetrable barrier, such as a diaphragm or condom, between sexual partners.


backfisch

en-noun

backfisch (plural backfische or backfisches)

backfische (plural)
backfisches (plural)

Borrowed from German Backfisch (“teenage girl”, literally “fish for baking”).

bor

I knew, of course, it was but an innocent game on her part, a bit of backfisch foolery in imitation of some simulacrum of fake romance, […]

1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 1, page 115:


catamenia

From Ancient Greek καταμήνια (katamḗnia), the neuter plural of καταμήνιος (katamḗnios, “monthly”), from κατά (katá) + μήν (mḗn, “month”).

On inquiry it was found that this neurosis corresponded in time with the oncome of the catamenia.

1881, American journal of obstetrics and diseases of women and children: Volume 14:


cuckquean

Blend of cuckold + quean (“disreputable woman”).

blend

(fetish) A woman who is attracted to or aroused by the sexual infidelity of a partner.


limmer

Uncertain; perhaps from limb, or French limier; see leamer.

Thieves, limmers, and broken men of the Highlands.

1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:


time of the month

en-noun

time of the month (plural times of the month)

I'm so, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm just a little bit, you know... Well, I've got you know at the moment, so... I've got Aunt Irma visiting.
Do you not like Aunt Irma? I've got an aunt like that.
It's my term for... my time of the month.
What time of the month? The weekend?

2006 Mar. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 6

You have to admit, however, that during that time of the month, we are not at our most likable. Let's face it. We are swollen up like an overfed slug, our breath stinks, the tiniest irritant is magnified ten thousand times, and we cry at the drop of a hat.

2014, Becky Rutledge, Miss Becky's Charm School, Citadel Press, →ISBN:

It’s that time, that time of the month / Well I woke up early and I got a hunch

2014, “Crimson Wave”, in NVM, performed by Tacocat:

(euphemistic) Synonym of menstruation: the monthly period during which a fertile woman menstruates.


spokeswoman

From spoke (“past participle of speak”) + -s- + woman.

af

past participle of <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">speak</i>

Topps[…] has signed the Clique Girlz as commercial spokeswomen for Baby Bottle Pop, one of the Top 10 nonchocolate candy brands.

2009 January 28, Brooks Barnes, “Sweet Deal to Promote Tweeny-Bop Girl Group”, in The New York Times:

A Chiltern spokeswoman told RAIL: "We have an excellent safety record and are working with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch to understand the causes of this incident."

2020 July 1, Richard Clinnick, “Network News: '165' runs through points and into path of LU service”, in Rail, page 20:

A woman who speaks as the voice of a group of people.


Stacy

A female given name from Ancient Greek derived from the surname, popular in the 1970s.


tragedienne

a female tragedian; a woman who acts in tragic drama


skimpy

en-adj

skimpy (comparative skimpier, superlative skimpiest)

skimpier (comparative)
skimpiest (superlative)

They served a pretty skimpy portion of ice cream as the free birthday dessert.

He was of a pallid complexion, hair of a kind of dirty fairness, greyish eyes, and a skimpy, immature moustache under his peaked indeterminate nose.

1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The Wheels of Chance: A Holiday Adventure, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co.; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Co., →OCLC:

You was a po' skimpy little boy no mo' than about fo'teen when you lef' home to come No'th; but I knowed you the minute I sot eyes on you.

1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Thimble, Thimble”, in Options:

[T]he driver was delayed there by a skimpy little woman with a thin piping voice practised in the art of defeating escape from it by a ceaseless stream of gabble.

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 26:

Desert Hearts is one of the high spots in the skimpy history of gay movies — and probably the high spot in the even more barren history of lesbian films.

1986 April 19, Michael Bronski, “Two Views on Desert Hearts: Sexy? or simply Slow?”, in Gay Community News, page 9:

Food might be a tad skimpy in the portions.

1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, Vintage (2016), page 72:

Small or inadequate; not generous; diminutive.

(of a person) Wearing skimpy clothing; scantily clad.


skimpy

It's a curious mix: weatherworn miners, fresh faced bankers, and a couple of g-stringed skimpies.

2000, Australian Journal of Mining, page 2:

For an anthropological experience, the front bar at the Exchange Hotel provides a window into some locals′ lives at all hours of the day, with skimpies, TV sports and mine workers chain-drinking.

2007, Terry Carter, Lara Dunston, Perth & Western Australia, Lonely Planet, page 159:

‘[…]There are thirty-two hotels in Kalgoorlie, and only seven would have skimpies [scantily clad barmaids].’

2010, Kathy Marks, “Tears of the Sun”, in Robert Drewe, editor, The Best Australian Essays 2010, page 239:

Skimpy barmaids, or just “skimpies,” refers to female bar staff who wear a bikini or lingerie. They are a feature of working class pubs in industrial suburbs and mining towns, which often advertise skimpies during traditionally quieter times such as midweek lunch and dinner services in an effort to attract customers.

2017 March 27, Calla Wahlquist, “'Skimpies' night: the Western Australia pub tradition that refuses to die”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(Australia, Western Australia) A barmaid who wears little clothing.


panther

From Middle English panter, panther, pantere, from Old French pantere, from Latin panthēra, from Ancient Greek πάνθηρ (pánthēr, “panther”).

der

A cougar; especially the Florida panther.


high tide

en-noun

high tide (countable and uncountable, plural high tides)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-high tide.wav

Do you not like Aunt Irma? I've got an aunt like that.
It's my term for... my time of the month.
What time of the month? The weekend?
No... you know, it... it's high tide.
But we're not on the coast.


Miss Right

He waited for years and years, hoping someday to find Miss Right.

(idiomatic) A perfect, ideal or suitable female companion, especially a wife.


ectopic

From Ancient Greek ἐκτόπιος (ektópios, “away from a place, out of place, out of the way”), from ἐκ (ek, “out”) + -topic τόπος (tópos, “place”).

uder

(obstetrics, colloquial) An ectopic pregnancy.


ogress

Borrowed in the early 1700s from French ogresse, equivalent to ogre + -ess.

And in the seventh tale of the third day of the same collection, when Corvetto had hidden himself under the Ogre's bed to steal his quilt, "he began to pull quite gently, when the Ogre awoke, and bid his wife not to pull the clothes that way, or she'd strip him, and he would get his death of cold." "Why, it's you that are stripping me," replied the Ogress, "and you have not left a stitch on me." "Where the devil is the quilt?" says the Ogre[.]

1828, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume II, page 237:

Dear me, Mimsey!. . . you are perfectly outrageous! Do you think I'm an ogress ready to eat her up? On the contrary, I mean to be a friend to her.


Clare

The anglicized spelling of Irish Clár, from Old Irish clár (“plank, board”), from Proto-Celtic *klāros, *klārom (“table”).

A district municipality in Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada, named after County Clare.

A number of places in the United States, likely to be named after County Clare:

A city mostly in Clare County, Michigan; after its county and County Clare.


gynecology

en-noun

gynecology (usually uncountable, plural gynecologies)

/ˌɡaɪnɪˈkɒlədʒi/

/ˌɡaɪnəˈkɑləd͡ʒi/

/ˌd͡ʒaɪnəˈkɑləd͡ʒi/

From French gynécologie, from Ancient Greek γυνή (gunḗ, “woman”) + -logie (“-logy”). Replaced earlier gyniatrics.

Coordinate term: obstetrics

The study of, or the branch of medicine specializing in, the medical problems of women, especially disorders of the reproductive organs.

gjinekologji

branch of medicine specializing in the problems of women


IVG

From languages in which "voluntary interruption of pregnancy" has the initials IVG, like French interruption volontaire de grossesse, Italian interruzione volontaria di gravidanza, Portuguese interrupção voluntária da gravidez, etc.

bor

By the 1982 mobilisations to force the Left government to include IVGs under the Social Security system, […]

It seems less likely that the establishments now performing abortions illicitly will accept to report them in the future, inasmuch as their services are filling a void. The reimbursement of IVGs is not a Social Security item, but a[…]

In terms of the implementation, more than 97% of all IVGs are under the 'abortion on demand' option, which led to an improvement in the statistics regarding complications from illegal abortions.

2016 January 12, J. Outshoorn, European Women's Movements and Body Politics: The Struggle for Autonomy, Springer, →ISBN:

An inducted abortion (in the context of a country like France).


sis

big sis

My sis is tying the knot. I want you to play for the reception.


sis

head

sis (third-person singular, feminine, nominative case)

en-pron

sis is living my delusions, happy for her

2023 February 2, ㅊ (@jaja_girly), Twitter:

The internalized colorism that has inflicted Will is just… Referring to gorgeous Veronica as “Black bald dark-skin woman.” How she didn’t snatch him from his Mama’s highchair I do not know.. Sis dodged all the bullets.. #loveisblindbrazil

“Sue Me” sis snapped

2022 September 29, Kahlen Barry (@KahlenBarry), Twitter:

sis really said fuck the police go off

2023 January 3, sésé/gee☆♱ (@d0llydeathw1sh), Twitter:

Call me when ur 3 year old daughter knows SZA lyrics, girl said “you still playin the pick me, I’m still playin the victim” we don’t care if it’s backwards sis learned that all on her own 🥹

2023 January 3, amanda 🍒(@ amc0124), Twitter:

(chiefly African-American Vernacular, slang) she


momma

Alternative spelling of mama; see further etymology there.

My momma’s so great: she bakes me cookies every week.


contraception

en-noun

contraception (usually uncountable, plural contraceptions)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-contraception.wav

The use of a device or procedure to prevent conception as a result of sexual activity.

предпазване

от забременяване


pucelle

From Anglo-Norman pucele, Middle French pucele, perhaps from a Late Latin *pullicella, but the further etymology is disputed.

1608 (at the earliest), Ben Jonson, letter to John Fletcher
Lady or pucelle, that wears mask or fan.

Seven weeks before, Joan of Arc had ridden into Orleans. She was at the height of her strange career.…‘Maid or Witch, Pucelle or Puzzell – she is very hard to understand.’

(archaic) A girl, a maiden; a virgin (often with reference to Joan of Arc).


stewardess

stewardess (plural stewardesses or (humorous, nonstandard) stewardii)

stewardesses (plural)
stewardii (humorous nonstandard plural)

flight nurse

obsolete form for air stewardess, from when medical qualifications were needed

A female flight attendant (a member of the crew of an airplane who is responsible for the comfort and safety of its passengers).

She usually rang for the stewardess early, but this morning of course there had been no ring. The stewardess had gone in all the same about eight o'clock and found the cabin empty.

1888 September, Henry James, “The Patagonia”, in The English Illustrated Magazine, volume 5, page 782:

Certainly a stewardess who may have fifty or even a hundred passengers to look after cannot give much attention to nursing, even if she knows how.

1905, The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review - Volume 35, page 296:

He regarded the tray with apprehension, then with dismay as the stewardess said: "She's just rung for breakfast in bed, going to stay there all day as she feels a cold coming."

1997, Violet Jessop, John Maxtone-Graham, Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Violet Jessop who Survived Both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters, page 195:

I came into the industry as a chef with restaurant and catering experience but no real understanding of what the whole role of "stewardess" entailed on board.

2013, Julie Perry, The Insiders' Guide to Becoming a Yacht Stewardess:

A woman who works at housekeeping and passenger service aboard a ship, yacht, or other type of boat that carries passengers.

The stewardess, principal inspector of the cow stable and the butter establishment, was indeed with the young lady, who had just entered the yard.

1898, Luise Mühlbach, The Reign of the Great Elector, page 105:

The occasion – the very first trip of a stewardess on Capitol, eastbound B & O […]

1957, Baltimore and Ohio Employes Magazine - Volumes 43-44, page 15:

Arbitrator John Day Larkin upholds the discharge of a female employee who had a fight with a union stewardess on a company parking lot.

On the transfer of any hostess or stewardess from one permanent base to another, the employer shall pay the expenses properly incurred by the hostess or stewardess for the removal of her dependants, her furniture, and personal effects, such expenses to be mutually agreed upon.

1971, New Zealand. Department of Labour, Awards, Agreements, Orders, and Decisions Made Under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, the Apprentices Act, the Labour Disputes Investigation Act, and Other Industrial Legislation for the Year 1970, page 3860:

The kitchen stewardess says madam sits there glaring at the paper on the wall.

2013, Tanith Lee, A Heroine of the World:


snip

en-verb

snip (third-person singular simple present snips, present participle snipping, simple past and past participle snipped)

snips (present singular third-person)
snipping (participle present)
snipped (participle past)
snipped (past)

From Dutch snippen (“to snip; shred”) or Low German snippen (“to snip; shred”), of imitative origin. Compare snap.

onomatopoeic

imitative

Circumcised fathers face a special problem. Do you want your son's willy to be that radically different from your own? So, parents should perhaps not be put off. Be good to your son's future lovers and have him snipped.

2001, David Cohen, The Father's Book: Being a Good Dad in the 21st Century, John WIley & Sons Ltd, published 2001, →ISBN, page 72:

His children, however, were not snipped, possibly because Princess Diana was opposed to the practice, which is out of fashion in England.

2008, Ilene Schneider, Talk Dirty Yiddish: Beyond Drek: The Curses, Slang, and Street Lingo You Need to Know When You Speak Yiddish, Adams Media, published 2008, →ISBN, page 150:

By the outbreak of the First World War such claims had diminished and the medical profession touted circumcision as being 'hygienic' — fathers were not only encouraged to have their newborn sons snipped, but to belatedly enjoy the benefits themselves.

2012, Tom Hickman, God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis, Square Peg, published 2012, →ISBN, page 144:


odalisque

Borrowed from French odalisque, from Ottoman Turkish اوطهلق (odalık, “chambermaid”), from اوده (oda, “room”).

der

When the young Mauretanians were his guests in the little houses before the town gates, and he was of a good humour, it would come about that he displayed his odalisques as others would their jewels.

1947 [1939], Ernst Jünger, translated by Stuart Hood, On the Marble Cliffs, New Directions, translation of Auf den Marmorklippen (in German), →LCCN, →OCLC, page 12:

Though I could see the titan odalisques and their garden and knew them to be no more than dream-stuff recalled, I could not escape from their fascination and the memory of the dream.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 72:

The Sector is borne in a padded Waggon, like some mechanickal Odalisque.

1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 30, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part Two: America, page 296:

(historical) A female slave in a harem, especially one in the Ottoman seraglio.


with young

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-with young.wav


adulteress

From adulter (noun) + -ess or adulterer + -ess.

And the righteous men, they shall iudge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their handes.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 23:45:

A female adulterer, a married woman or wife who commits adultery.


abortion pill

A drug, such as mifepristone (Mifegyne), used to terminate a pregnancy in its earliest stage.

abortuspil

drug used to terminate pregnancy in early stage


puerperal fever

en-noun

puerperal fever (countable and uncountable, plural puerperal fevers)

It was the rise of penicillin, not improved hygiene, that finally conquered puerperal fever.

2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 344:

(pathology, obstetrics) A fever, following childbirth or abortion, due to infection of the uterus.


starlet

There were other flapper-era starlets, of course—Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo—but they were poseurs by comparison.

2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 25:

A young actress with a promising career ahead of her.


poster girl

(idiomatic) A female exemplar of some trait.


induced abortion

induced abortion (plural induced abortions)

A surgical or medicinal procedure that terminates a pregnancy by removing the fetus; a therapeutic abortion. It is a non-contraceptive form of birth control.


barmaid

At one of the way-stations on his long journey a barmaid at a tavern speaks to Gilgamesh and tries to give him common sense on the human condition.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 201:

A woman who serves in a bar. [from 18th c.]


lady-in-waiting

From lady + in + waiting (“attendance, service”).

refn

From the collection of the Musée du Second Empire in the Château de Compiègne, Compiègne, Oise, France.

[T]he electreſs [Sophia Charlotte of Hanover] was heard to ſay to one of her ladies in waiting, "that it vexed her to the very heart to go and act in Pruſſia the theatrical queen along with her Eſop.["]

1751, [Frederick the Great], “Frederick III. the First King of Prussia”, in Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg. From the Earliest Accounts, to the Death of Frederick I. King of Prussia. […], Dublin: Printed by S. Powell, for G. Faulkner […], and Matt[hew] Williamson […], →OCLC, page 100:

This night, after eleven o'clock, as the royal family were returning from Drury-lane theatre, when the carriages had reached the end of John-street, Pall Mall, a stone was flung with such force as to break one of the glass pannels in the coach, in which were their majesties and the lady in waiting; which, after striking the queen on the cheek, fell into lady Harrington's lap.

1796, “Chronicle. [February 1st.]”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1796, 2nd edition, volume XV, London: Printed by B[uchanan] McMillan, […], for the proprietors of Dodsley’s Annual Register, […], published 1807, →OCLC, page 5:

Of a sudden a man leapt up to the top of the wall from the other side, and then, hanging for a moment, dropped lightly upon the grass within. All the ladies-in-waiting shrieked at the suddenness of his coming, but the man ran to the Queen and kneeled at her feet, and she saw it was Robin Hood.

1883, Howard Pyle, “The Chase of Robin Hood”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part seventh, page 250:

The political influence wielded by many of the court ladies, and especially by the first lady-in-waiting (mother of the present Emperor), bears a certain resemblance to that which the eunuchs wielded under the later Manchus at the court of Peking. [...] And behind the 30 ladies-in-waiting there are the rank and file of female palace attendants, some 300, all of Kyoto stock—quite sufficient to keep any conscientious chamberlain on the qui vive.

1920, J[ohn] O[tway] P[ercy] Bland, “[Exhibit G.] Three Palaces.”, in Administration of Immigration Laws: Hearings before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization: House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session: […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 373:

In the Queen's coach are the Queen's stateroom and bathroom, the Royal Family lounge, lady-in-waiting's compartment and bathroom, and dresser's room. […] Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret are accommodated in one coach, and each of the two suites comprises a stateroom with its adjoining bathroom. A bedroom is provided for each of two ladies-in-waiting, and a separate compartment for the maid.

1947 January and February, “South African Royal Train”, in Railway Magazine, page 47:

At last she [Makeda, the Queen of Sheba] was overcome by a desire to go to Jerusalem and see with her own eyes the things about which she had heard. [...] She chose as her companion on the journey her lady-in-waiting, and the two of them travelled in sedan chairs mounted on the backs of camels.

1986 September–October, Harold Courlander, “How Makeda Visited Jerusalem, and How Menelik Became King”, in Robert G. Forman, editor, Michigan Alumnus, volume 93, number 1, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Published by the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 37, columns 2–3:

Young girls from wealthy families were often sent to the royal court to help the queen and noblewomen. After becoming a teenager, a girl could then be named a lady-in-waiting. These ladies assisted their mistress in any way and usually went with her when she traveled.

2013, Joanne Mattern, “A Life at Court”, in Dona Herweck Rice, editor, Geoffrey Chaucer: Medieval Writer, Huntington Beach, Calif.: Teacher Created Materials, →ISBN, page 14:

A lady, often a noblewoman, in the household of a queen, princess, or other woman of higher rank who attends her as a personal assistant, generally a role considered an honour.

Château de Compiègne
Compiègne
Eugénie de Montijo
Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Napoleon III

plac'h-enor

lady in the household of a woman of higher rank who attends her as a personal assistant

kamarineiti

woman who is a maid or servant to a lady


chemical abortion

en-noun

chemical abortion (countable and uncountable, plural chemical abortions)

A medical, rather than surgical, abortion induced by a drug.


nursing bra

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nursing bra.wav

A bra specifically designed for breastfeeding mothers, with cups which fold down, allowing easy access to the nipple when the infant is to be fed, usually constructed of fabric only.


battle axe

(informal, sometimes humorous) A domineering, antagonistic woman.


housemaid

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-housemaid.wav

A female domestic worker attached to the non-servant quarter part of the house, as opposed to a scullery maid.

աղախին

female servant attached to the non-servant quarter part of the house


sisterhood

sisterhood (countable and uncountable, plural sisterhoods)

From Middle English susterhede; equivalent to sister + -hood (with a modification in the suffix).

What does the rallying cry of sisterhood and the concept of feminism mean when last year, the majority of white, female voters chose whiteness as a political identity over womanhood?

2017 September 23, Kaitlyn Greenidge, “‘Sisterhood’ Felt Meaningless. So My Sisters and I Got in the Car.”, in The New York Times:

(feminism) The idea of universal experience amongst women, regardless of other traits or factors. (Considered obsolete in third-wave feminism.)

sororidade

feminism: the idea of universal experience amongst women


perinatal

en-adj

perinatal (comparative more perinatal, superlative most perinatal)

more perinatal (comparative)
most perinatal (superlative)

Perinatal HIV infection of infants is a problem in sub-Saharan Africa.

Of or pertaining to the time around birth.

perinataalinen

of or pertaining to the time around birth


headmistress

(chiefly Commonwealth, Ireland) A female headteacher.


enceinte

These labours upon Phœnician necropoli are of great importance. [...] M. [Louis Félicien] de Saulcy, one of the first travellers who has thrown light upon these necropoli, devoted himself to a very interesting examination of the tombs of the kings, of the prophets and judges, and upon the immense necropolis that surrounds Jerusalem, like a funeral enceinte.

1853, Abbé de St. Michon [i.e., Jean-Hippolyte Michon], chapter XIV, in [anonymous], transl., Narrative of a Religious Journey in the East in 1850 and 1851, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 338:

And so across the bridge and into the enceinte of the massive walls, threading their way towards the quarter where the morgue lay.

1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 824:


wahine

Borrowed from Maori and Hawaiian wahine (“woman”), from Proto-Polynesian *fafine.


brach

Originally in plural, from Old French brachez, plural of brachet, a diminutive of Occitan brac, from Frankish. Cognate to the German Bracke. More at brachet.

FOOL: Truth's a dog that must to kennel; he must be whipped out, when Lady, the brach, may stand by the fire and stink.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], lines 109-111:

Mastiffe, Grey-hound, Mongrill, Grim, / Hound or Spaniell, Brache, or Hym […].

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:

A sow-pig by chance sucked a brach, and when she was grown, “would miraculously hunt all manner of deer, and that as well, or rather better than any ordinary hound.”

(archaic) A hound; especially a female hound used for hunting, a bitch hound.


dyspareunia

/dɪspəˈɹuːnɪə/

From dys- + Ancient Greek πάρευνος (páreunos, “lying beside, lying with”) + -ia.

uder

deep dyspareunia ― pain on deep penetration

(medicine) Painful or difficult sexual intercourse, especially in women.


mpreg

(fandom slang) Abbreviation of male pregnancy.


domina

From Latin domina (“mistress”). Doublet of dame and donna.

A precious article is the paint with which the Roman domina was beautified; it was well worthy of the case of ivory and rock-crystal in which it was preserved.

1863 November 21, “Literary Extracts, &c.”, in The Hull News, number 621, Kingston upon Hull, E.R.Y., page 3, column 4:

“Can you translate this invitation? I hate to display my ignorance around your Latin students,” Mrs. Dooley, who was attired in a royal purple gown as a Roman domina, graciously complied, so if you’ve been worrying over the translation to the first paragraph, here ’tis.

1956 May 23, Jean Yothers, “On the Town”, in Orlando Sentinel, volume 66, number 272, Orlando, Fla., page 20, column 1:

Flavius on the other hand holds the career of the gladiator in high esteem, as despite running the unavoidable risk of death at every turn, gladiators are the most renowned and admired of all men and are sought after by the most beautiful and wealthy Roman dominae. […] Though dressed like Roman patrician dominae, their height, features and hair colour show that they are young Briton girls.

2012, Armando Roggero, The Revenge of the Ninth: Heading to Honor and Glory through Effort and Trial, Lulu, →ISBN, pages 71 and 152:

The ancient historian Horace remarked once that respectable women should not draw attention to themselves by using cosmetics, perfume, or hairpieces. However, that didn’t last long with the Roman dominas.

2012, J. F. Ridgley, Vows of Revenge, →ISBN, page 498:

The exotic mistress fulfilled the lust of his body, but her status came far short of entertaining him as he’d grown accustomed with fair Roman dominas, engaging their obscene wittiness and patrician prattle.

2017, Mary Dove, “Quintus”, in The End of Seven, Dog Ear Publishing, →ISBN, page 346:


heiress

"Do you know, Julia, that Charles has taken some wild-goose fancy into his head about marrying?"
 "Why, what heiress have you picked up?" asked his sister. "I am sure that I am very glad of it, though I cannot form a guess who it is. I never knew a season so unprofitable in that respect as the present."

1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 120:

A woman who has a right of inheritance or who stands to inherit.

A woman who has received an inheritance.


cervical cap

A small latex or silicone contraceptive device that fits over the cervix and stays in place either by suction or by surface viscosity.


presbyteress

From Medieval Latin presbyterissa. By surface analysis, presbyter + -ess.

Age was doubtless a requisite in presbyters, as it is here stated to have been in presbyteresses, with a view to their influence on the younger persons of their sex. They were supported by the Church, but not the only widows so supported.

1863, Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset, David Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments:

(obsolete) A female presbyter (elder of the congregation in early Christianity).


amniotic fluid

en-noun

amniotic fluid (countable and uncountable, plural amniotic fluids)

(zoology) In placental mammals, a fluid contained within the amnion membrane that surrounds a developing embryo or fetus.

سُخْد

fluid that surrounds a developing embryo or fetus


maternal aunt

大姨

mother's eldest sister, if older than her

二姨

middle daughters in mother's family in numerical rank following eldest

小姨

mother's youngest sister, if younger than her


paternal aunt

hallë

the sister or sister-in-law of someone's father

The wife of a sibling of someone’s father.


femme fatale

femme fatale (plural femmes fatales or femme fatales)

femmes fatales (plural)
femme fatales (plural)

Unadapted borrowing from French femme fatale (literally “deadly woman”).

ubor

Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale) / The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)

1967, Lou Reed (lyrics and music), “Femme Fatale”, in The Velvet Underground & Nico, performed by The Velvet Underground:

An attractive and seductive but ultimately dangerous woman.


sangoma

Borrowed from Zulu isángoma (“diviner, witch doctor, sangoma”), possibly from i- + sa- (prefix meaning ‘of’) + íngoma (“dance song performed at a festival; hymn”). The English word is cognate with Afrikaans sangoma, Swazi sángoma.

bor

The Natal Zulu believes in witchcraft, prophesy, love philtres, and such like. He is firmly fixed in his mind that the witch doctors and sangomas (female diviners) have power to bring rain, to trace spells of witchcraft, to heal by incantation, and to perform sundry other wonders and miracles.

1895, J. Forsyth Ingram, “Section III. People, Language, Government, and Settlements”, in The Colony of Natal: An Official Illustrated Handbook and Railway Guide, London: […] Sir Joseph Causton and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 21:

Sangoma is a type of healer rare in the surveyed area, but seems to be more common in other parts of Botswana. [...] In the majority of cases the Sangoma is a female, but some male Disangoma are found. The Sangoma would often, as a young person during a severe illness, be 'called' by the Badimo through a dream and then seek guidance and training from an elder Sangoma. [...] In some cases the Sangoma would specialise in some types of exorcism during which she would engage in singing, dancing and in some cases using her drum, often entering into a state of trance.

1986, Frants Staugard, “Traditional Health Care in Botswana”, in Murray Last, G[ordon] L[loyd] Chavunduka, editors, The Professionalisation of African Medicine (International African Studies; 1), Manchester: Manchester University Press in association with the International African Institute, →ISBN, part I (Professional Associations and Government), page 57:

Sangomas nowadays tend to have at least two or three, and at times as many as fifteen or more, spirits that guide and assist them in their healing practice. Sangomas describe a division of labour among such spirits whereby each tends to have a specialized purpose, ranging from guidance in diagnosis to help in collecting overdue patient fees.

1989, Edward C. Green, “Mystical Black Power: The Calling to Diviner-mediumship in Southern Africa”, in Carol Shepherd McClain, editor, Women as Healers: Cross-cultural Perspectives, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, published 1995, →ISBN, page 188:

This case also attracted a large crowd – not to see me, but to find out whether the white man's laws could be applied to a sangoma.

1994, Nelson Mandela, chapter 16, in Long Walk to Freedom, London: Abacus, published 2010, →ISBN, page 176:

The coffins eventually reached cold storage, where they were to lie for another six weeks. Enter the sangomas. The antidote for zombies requires that sangomas reunite the zomboid spirits with their bodies. A Cape Town sangoma told me that once she had danced herself into a trance, she was able to spiritually enter the cupboard and catch the zombies (who, she assured me, are terribly strong).

2003, Brett Bailey, “The Horror! The Horror!”, in The Plays of Miracle & Wonder: Bewitching Visions and Primal High-jinx from the South African Stage, Cape Town, South Africa: Double Storey Books, →ISBN, page 33:

Lesedi was a sangoma, you know. I think she tried to put a curse on me because I was spying on her. But I wasn't really spying, I just thought that she was nice and wanted her to be my friend and then I saw the mask and I didn't anymore.

2014, Miranda Sherry, Black Dog Summer, New York, N.Y.: Washington Square Press, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 187:

(South Africa and other parts of Southern Africa) A (usually female) traditional healer or herbalist, or witch doctor.

sangoma

traditional healer or herbalist, or witch doctor — see also witch doctor


gendered knowledge

(feminism) According to feminist studies and gender studies, mainstream knowledge that is produced by men and privileges the masculine over the feminine.


courtesan

Borrowed from Middle French courtisane, from Italian cortigiana, feminine of cortigiano (“courtier”), from corte (“court”), itself from Latin cohors.

What wine, what drug, what philtre known of man / Will drown this ancient foe, / Ruthless and ravenous as a courtesan, / Sure as an ant, and slow?

1909, Charles Baudelaire, “The Irreparable”, in John Collings Squire, transl., Poems and Baudelaire Flowers:

In the notes he wrote for Nana, his novel about a courtesan in Second Empire Paris, Zola imagined ‘a whole society hurling itself’ at her body, ‘a pack of hounds after a bitch, who is not even on heat and makes fun of the hounds following her’. This might also describe the life of Harriette Wilson, whose unguarded pursuit by the leaders of the British aristocracy, the army, the government and opposition made her the most desired, and then the most dangerous, woman in Regency London.

2014, Frances Wilson, The Courtesan's Revenge, Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 10:

A female prostitute, especially one with high-status or wealthy clients.


raincoat

After standing around in talk for a while, during which time Doris arrived with my hat and raincoat (left with her at the site) we made our way some two hundred strong, up the gracious stone stairway to the Hall of Christ Church, loaned by that College for the celebrationary lunch.

1987, Sir Raymond Streat, Marguerite Dupree, Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat:

Speaking to a crowd of demonstrators, some of whom dressed in raincoats while others wore keffiyehs in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s deadly war on Gaza, one demonstrator said: “Any president that has come to power has also let workers down.”

2024 November 9, Maya Yang, “Anti-Trump protests erupt across US from New York City to Seattle”, in The Guardian:

A waterproof coat to be worn in the rain.


gamine

A (usually female) street urchin; a homeless girl.


gentlewoman

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-gentlewoman.wav

From Middle English gentilwoman, modelled after gentilman (“gentleman”), equivalent to gentle + -woman.

'The gentlewoman from California.' Or 'the gentlewoman from Texas.' Gentlewoman?

1998 December 11, “GENTLEWOMEN AND GENTLEMEN DON'T SAY 'LADY'”, in Daily Press:

House of Representatives
House of Representatives

(US, politics) A female member of a legislature, especially a female member of a House of Representatives.


menstrual cup

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-menstrual cup.wav

A receptacle worn inside the vagina during menstruation to collect menstrual fluid.


girl next door

Coordinate term: boy next door

She didn't want to marry the girl next door: she yearned for the big city.

Playboy's motto is: the girl next door. They look for girls that are wholesome and fresh and young and naive. They look for all of that.

1983, Teresa Carpenter, Bob Fosse, Star 80, spoken by Dorothy Stratten:

The Nippy became a national icon, symbolic of the girl next door, always approachable and proper; […]

2014, Paul Chrystal, Tea: A Very British Beverage:

A regular, typical girl, as opposed to a superstar.


sorceress

From Middle English sorceresse, from Anglo-Norman sorceresse.

The strange-looking chamber, the red glare of the charcoal, her tall form, and long black hair loose, realised the wildest dream of one of the sorceresses of old, bending over herb and drug, to form their potent spells.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Laboratory”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 328:

A female sorcerer, especially one who is elegant; compare witch.


drama queen

If he is thwarted in his effort to enjoy them, he may either go to the dogs or the drama queens, become short-tempered, sullen, grouchy and eventually feel that, in a way he is a failure.

I’ve known quite a few drama queens in my time, and I always have the same thought: She reminds me of junior high. Most girls are drama queens at that age.

2009, Mark Atteberry, So Much More Than Sexy, Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing, →ISBN, page 145:

(idiomatic, informal, derogatory) An overly or exaggeratedly dramatic person, especially a woman or a girl.


repercussion

en-noun

repercussion (countable and uncountable, plural repercussions)

/ˌɹiː.pəˈkʌʃ.ən/

/ˌɹɛ.pɚˈkʌʃ.ən/

From Middle French répercussion, from Latin repercussio (“rebounding; repercussion”), from repercutio (“cause to rebound, reflect, strike against”), from re- + percutio (“beat, strike”), from per- (“thoroughly”) + quatio (“shake”).

uder

(obstetrics) In a vaginal examination, the act of imparting through the uterine wall with the finger a shock to the foetus, so that it bounds upward, and falls back again against the examining finger.


mam

Alteration or clipping of mama. Compare Scots mam, Early Scots mame (“mother”), mamye (“wet nurse”), Saterland Frisian Määme (“mother”), West Frisian mem (“mother”).
Alternatively, possibly either conserved from or influenced by earlier Brythonic language.

She'd sit by the fire, arms crossed, demanding that Ruby spike her tea with a cinder. But Ruby would never give in to her demands, no matter how much her mam begged. There was no alcohol in the house now; Arthur had made sure of that in an effort to get Mary sober.

(UK, Ireland, regional, informal, colloquial) Mum, mom; diminutive of mother.


deaconess

Inherited from Middle English dekenesse; equivalent to deacon + -ess.

A female servant in the early Christian church.


autogynephilia

/ˌɔːtəʊˌɡaɪnəˈfɪli.ə/

/ˌɔtoʊˌɡaɪnəˈfɪli.ə/

/ˌɑtoʊˌɡaɪnəˈfɪli.ə/

Coordinate term: autoandrophilia

Charles Moser (2010) “Blanchard’s Autogynephilia Theory: A Critique”, in Journal of Homosexuality, volume 57, number 6, →DOI, pages 790–809: “If autogynephilia were a paraphilia, we would expect that MTFs would want estrogens to feminize themselves, but decline anti-androgens or report that they disliked the effect. This is contrary to the observation that MTFs request and like the effects of anti-androgens.”

gender identity disorder
gender identity disorder

transvestic fetishism
transvestic fetishism

In Ray Blanchard's transsexualism typology, the proposed paraphilic tendency of someone who is anatomically male to be sexually aroused by the thought of being a female, sometimes framed as a form of gender identity disorder or transvestic fetishism.


authoress

/ˈɔː.θə.ɹɛs/

From Middle English aucteuresse; equivalent to author + -ess.

This obſervation is verified in our authoreſs, who, without deſign, without art, and without inſtruction is arrived at a wonderful perfection in the art of poetry, and may be placed amongſt poets of the firſt claſs.

1765 January, “A further Account of the celebrated German Poeteſs”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, page 5:

Eve was the authoress of sin, Mary the authoress of merit… the one wounded, the other healed.

1841, Thomas Butler, The Truths of the Catholic Religion, page 102:


cock tease

Coordinate term: clit tease

That bird is a total cock tease; she's been winding blokes up all night.

(slang, vulgar, chiefly derogatory) A person, usually a woman, who teases a man but then withdraws an alluded-to promise of sexual intercourse.


catcher's mitt

en-noun

catcher's mitt (plural catcher's mitts or catchers' mitts)

catcher's mitts (plural)
catchers' mitts (plural)


denidation

Finally, he [Aveling] believes that menstruation is probably determined by the act of “denidation,” as he calls it, because it is from the denided surface that the menstrual flow comes.

1894, Walter Heape, “The Menstruation of Semnopithecus entellus”, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, volume 185:

The breakup and expulsion of the endometrium during menstruation.


cocotte

This one is a woman, with all a woman’s wit, combined with the heartlessness of a cocotte.

1911, Bram Stoker, chapter XXI, in The Lair of the White Worm, London: William Rider and Son, […], →OCLC:

[…] she had had the novel experience of looking down from the restaurant terrace on an audience of "cocottes," and having her husband interpret to her as much of the songs as he thought suitable for bridal ears.

1920, Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:


housemother

The mother of a family; the female head of household, or of any collection of persons living as a family or in common, as in a primitive community.


chambermaid

A maid who handles the chores in a bedroom.

خَادِمَة

a maid who handles the chores in a bedroom


showgirl

She was a Las Vegas showgirl when she was younger.

A non-starring but physically beautiful female dancer in an often lavishly produced theatrical revue; a chorine.


Clarissa

Clarissa
Clarissa (novel)
Samuel Richardson

Borrowed from Italian Clarissa, from Medieval Latin Clarissa; see there for more. Popularized in English by Samuel Richardson's 1748 novel Clarissa. Doublet of Clarisse.

My wife's maiden name—Unmarried name, I should rather say […] was Harlowe—Clarissa Harlowe—you heard me call her my Clarissa—
I did—but I thought it to be a feigned or a love-name, said Miss Rawlins. […]
No—it was her real name, I said.

A female given name from Latin or Italian.


Clarissa

Following Francis' example, Clare founded an order of religious women known as the Poor Ladies of Assisi (like Francis' Poor Men), and later as the Clarissas or Poor Clares in her honor.

1991, Thomas Head, “Clare of Assisi”, in An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers:

In the protomonastero of Santa Chiara in Assisi, erected from the outset for the Clarissas, however, equally frequent changes and modifications in the location of the nuns' choir suggest that there were still uncertainties as to the best place for it.

1992, Caroline A. Bruzelius, “Hearing Is Believing: Clarissan Architecture, ca. 1213–1340”, in Gesta, volume 31, number 2, page 85:

The rule of Urban IV also clarified the nomenclature of the Clarissas, with the pope designating the group as the Order of St. Claire rather than Poor Ladies, or Poor Recluses, of San Damiano.

1995, Caroline A. Bruzelius, “Queen Sancia of Mallorca and the Convent Church of Sta. Chiara in Naples”, in Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, volume 40, page 75:

(Catholicism) Synonym of Poor Clare: a nun of the Order of Saint Clare.


marchioness

From Medieval Latin marchionissa, feminine form of marchion, from Late Latin marca, from Frankish *markōn (“to mark, mark out, to press with the foot”), from Proto-Germanic *markō (“area, region, edge, rim, border”).

der

The beauty and charm of the little marchioness and the tender hearted old colored man, with their mutual affection, forcibly remind the reader of "Uncle Tom" and "Eva."

1896, The Chautauquan, volume 22, page 382:

(slang, obsolete) An old-fashioned maid-of-all-work; female servant.


pantyliner

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pantyliner.wav

A pad worn on the inner surface of women's underpants, up against the vulva, during a low-flow day of the menstrual period, designed to absorb small, spotty quantities of menstrual fluid, in contrast to a tampon or sanitary napkin, worn on heavy-flow days.


intrauterine device

en-noun

intrauterine device (plural intrauterine devices)

intrauterine devices (plural)
as IUD (abbreviation)

A contraceptive device consisting of a spiral or similar shape of plastic or metal inserted through the vagina into the uterus in order to prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg.


viscountess

From Middle English viscountes, viscountesse, probably from Middle French viscontesse; equivalent to viscount + -ess. Doublet of vicomtesse.


councilwoman

When it was the defense’s turn to try to rebut the prosecution’s case, lawyers for Mr. James called just two witnesses [—] two former councilwomen who tried to bolster the assertion of Mr. James that he could not approve property sales unilaterally.

2008 April 17, Jonathan Miller and Richard G. Jones, “Ex-Newark Mayor Convicted of Fraud”, in The New York Times:

A New York City councilwoman was charged with assault after a heated protest at the Brooklyn site of a proposed men’s homeless shelter at which, the authorities say, she bit a police chief.

2024 July 17, Hurubie Meko and Nate Schweber, “City Councilwoman Is Charged With Biting Police Chief During Protest”, in The New York Times:

A female member of a council, especially a city council; now often replaced by gender-neutral councilor (British, councillor).


products of conception

(medicine) The human fetus, placenta and other such by-products of a miscarriage or abortion.


gramma

/ˈɡɹæ(m)mɑː/

Go on, there, driver, gramma is going.

1901, Karl Groos, James Mark Baldwin, The Play of Man, page 138:

My gramma—all her hair is white Like snow is, but it isn't cold.

1910 January, W.D.N., “The Dinner at Grampa's”, in Harper's Monthly Magazine, volume 120, number 716, page 321:

Polly trotted here and there with motions of taking gramma's hand, and so forth.

1952, Louise Woodcock, Life and Ways of the Two-year-old, page 244:


gramma

Traditionally Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata have been placed into two groups - pumpkins and grammas respectively.

1941, H. Barnes, Robert Veitch, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock, John Howard Simmonds, The Queensland Agricultural and Pastoral Handbook, Volume 1, page 238,
Pumpkins and grammas are harvested when mature, usually when the vines have died or been frosted.

The papaw pumpkin belongs to a different species (C. moschata) and is classed as a gramma.

1952, Desmond Andrew Herbert, Gardening in Warm Climates, page 151:

1983, Margaret Fulton, Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery: The Complete Kitchen Companion from A to Z, Revised 2005, Republished 2009, page 493,
Gramma, or bugle, pumpkin is the variety traditionally used for pumpkin pie, but if it is not available, use butternut instead.

Cucurbita moschata
Cucurbita moschata#Translingual

(Australia) A variety of pumpkin, a cultivar of Cucurbita moschata.


gramma

Accompanying said proposal any effort was made by the government to was a bond executed by said Drachman as obtain gramma hay for use at Ft. Huachuca.

1898, “Dennis v. United States”, in The Pacific Reporter, volume 52, page 355:

It is sometimes known as the "gramma grass," and is probably as valuable as any of the true gramma grasses; it is also called "mesquite grass."

1902, Report of the Governor of New Mexico to the Secretary of the Interior, page 233:

It is relished by cattle and horses, and is next to the gramma in value in those regions.

1906, William Harding Carter, Horses, Saddles and Bridles, page 369:


gramma

From Ancient Greek γράμμα (grámma). Doublet of gram.

The studies were divided into three branches. First, the grammata, which included reading, writing, and arithmetic; secondly, music; and thirdly, gymnastics.

1855, J. Talboys Wheeler, The Life and Travels of Herodotus in the Fifth Century Before Christ: An Imaginary Biography Founded on Fact, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, page 22:

The subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic.


beldame

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-beldame.wav

From late (1400–1450) Middle English bel (“good”), from Old French bel (“beautiful”) + Latin bellus + dam (“mother”), Middle English dame.

Justice is an old hobbling beldame, and I can't get her to keep pace with Generosity, for the soul of me.

1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.i:

[…] have a curiosity to hear my fortune told: therefore, Sam, order the beldame forward.

1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:

The tablets upon which the events of the day were recorded refer to enchantresses, and we can conclude that they were by no means restricted to ancient beldames.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 25:

Suddenly the beldam shrieks as if she's been stuck with a dagger, long rasping insuck of breath: ‘Eeeeeeeee!’

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 6:

(now archaic) An old woman, particularly an ugly one.


crone

From Middle English crone, from Anglo-Norman carogne (compare central Old French charogne (a term of abuse, literally “carrion, carcass, old sheep, hag”), whence modern French charogne). Doublet of carrion.

вещица

ugly evil-looking or frightening old woman; a hag

But still the crone was constant to her note.

1700, [John] Dryden, “The Wife of Bathe’s Tale. As it was Written by Geffrey Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:


eclampsia

en-noun

eclampsia (usually uncountable, plural eclampsias)

Borrowed from New Latin eclampsia, from French éclampsie, from Ancient Greek ἔκλᾰμψῐς (éklămpsĭs, “sudden development, violent onset”, literally “brightness”), from ἐκλᾰ́μπω (eklắmpō, “to shine or beam forth; to burst forth violently”) + -σῐς (-sĭs, nominal suffix).

af

(pathology) A complication of pregnancy characterized by seizures and coma due to hypertension.


come on

en-verb

come on (third-person singular simple present comes on, present participle coming on, simple past came on, past participle come on)

comes on (present singular third-person)
coming on (participle present)
came on (past)
come on (participle past)

The light came on as soon as I flicked the switch.

She pressed the power button and waited for the screen to come on.

(intransitive, of an electric or electronic device, especially a light) To activate; to turn on.


kept woman

He said: "Why bother about a career? After all, kept woman is a thoroughly respectable occupation—or can be made so by any preacher or justice of the peace. . . ."
"I could not belong to a man unless I cared for him," said she.

1912, David Graham Phillips, chapter 6, in The Price She Paid:

"I'm a kept woman," she explained. "What else is any woman?"

1919, Jerome K. Jerome, chapter 5, in All Roads Lead to Calvary:

Fannie Hurst's tender and moving biography of a kept woman is here reproduced in a sincere, detailed picture. Irene Dunne . . . falls in love with John Boles, a pedigreed young banker, who by a series of misunderstandings, makes her his mistress instead of his wife.

1932 August 8, “Cinema: The New Pictures”, in Time:

A woman who is supported financially by a lover (usually a married man).


suction curettage

en-noun

suction curettage (usually uncountable, plural suction curettages)

products of conception
products of conception

A common method of abortion where the products of conception are removed by a vacuum arrangement.


yorga

1910, E. Hassell, My Dusky Friends
At last he took a third york. She was a foolish young thing, but very fond of him ... he paid her more attention than the generality of husbands.

1968, W. H. Douglas, Aboriginal Language of south-west Australia
‘Yokas’ is ‘girls’ (Note the English plural suffix on yoka).

1981, Archie Weller, Day of Dog
‘Not much work going ’ere, orright, drinkin’ gabba and smokin’. Where’s all the yorgas?’ Pretty Boy grins.

1982, J. Davis, Kullark
I’ll tell you what ’e’ll do, e’ll finish up marryin’ some Wetjala yok, ’ave blue-eyed kids and ’e won’t want nothing to do with us.

1986, A. Weller, Going Home
‘Yeah. Us blokes are fuckin’ muritch,’ said Morry lazily ... ‘Ssh, youse mob. Couple yorgas comin’ in.’

1991, G. Ward, Unna you fullas
Their mother had told them he met a yorga, whom he was mardong for.

‘Right,’ said the old fella, ‘I'll get the ute ready, an' tell Auntie Florrie you an' me goin' out. You tell your yorgah too.’

1996, Alf Taylor, ‘The Wool Pickers’, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 174

(Australian Aboriginal) A woman, especially an Aboriginal woman.


wifelet

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-wifelet.wav

From wife + -let (diminutive suffix). Sense 3 (“long-term girlfriend; mistress”) is said to have been coined in the 1960s by Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath (1932–2020) in reference to his numerous mistresses.

The Marquess [Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath], now 74, who is best known for his remarkably unorthodox dress sense, his pornographic murals and his series of wifelets, is fixing me with a priapic eye while slurping wine from a beer glass. "I need some more," he declares loudly. "Wine?" I inquire. "No, wifelets, of course."

2007 March 30, Petronella Wyatt, “The Marquess of Bath – on the prowl for ‘wifelet 76’”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-04-04:

The multi-millionaire [Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath] named his numerous girlfriends wifelets when he embarked on his "polyamorous" lifestyle shortly after marrying in 1969. [...] The trouble between two of the women erupted on Sunday night as a fight broke out in his Wiltshire stately home, Longleat – famed for its safari park lions. As the wifelets fought for his affections Lord Bath retired to his bedroom, which is decorated with murals inspired by the Kama Sutra, the Indian sex manual.

2011 June 11, Sara Dixon, “Police called over love-tussle for the Loins of Longleat”, in Hugh Whittow, editor, Daily Express, London: Express Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-09-27:

The polyamorous lifestyle of Alexander Thynn, the 7th Marquess, has been scarcely concealed by the Marquess himself and well documented in the press, who had sunk their teeth into the latest episode just weeks before this ride. The nose of a well-proportioned lady with the remarkably appropriate name of Trudi Juggernauth-Sharma, believed to be wifelet number 68, allegedly came into close physical contact with the fist of Amanda Doyle, an Irish singer and also a wifelet (sequential number unknown), after an exchange of words about the prospects of Mr Thynn, 79 at the time, fathering a child with Ms Doyle.

2013, Richard Guise, “Stage 6: Prohibited Activities”, in A Wiggly Way through England, [s.l.]: Richard Guise, →ISBN, page 71:

Now 83, he [Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath] has a fortune of more than £150 million and famously lives on the estate with several girlfriends who he refers to as ‘wifelets’.

2016 June 2, Alice Vincent, “We hope to move Glastonbury to Longleat by 2019, says Michael Eavis”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-07-27:

(informal, by extension) A long-term girlfriend; a mistress (the “other woman” in an extramarital relationship).


crowning

From Middle English crouninge, crounynge, coroning, coronyng, equivalent to crown + -ing.

When your baby’s head remains visible without slipping back in, it is known as crowning.

2012 April, Baby Crowning, American Pregnancy Association:

(obstetrics) The stage of vaginal childbirth when the infant's head remains consistently visible at the vulva.


prophetess

From Middle English prophetesse, from Old French prophetesse, from Late Latin prophetissa. By surface analysis, prophet + -ess.

What made matters worse was that Montanus was accompanied by female prophetesses who spoke in states of ecstasy.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 138:


maternal grandmother

maternal grandmother (plural maternal grandmothers)

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see maternal, grandmother. (This entry is a translation hub.)


prom queen

Coordinate term: prom king

(US) In colleges and high schools, a young woman chosen, or sometimes elected by her peers, to have an honored status over the school's prom and related activities.


postfeminism

postfeminism (usually uncountable, plural postfeminisms)

Any of a wide range of theories that respond to feminism, arguing that it is no longer relevant or that it needs to be extended to fit the changing expectations and experiences of women.

postfeminisme

range of viewpoints that position themselves as reactions to feminism


family planning

Birth control, especially when carried out by monogamous heterosexual couples.

計劃生育 /计划生育

birth control, especially when carried out by monogamous heterosexual couples


usuress

/ˌjuːʒəˈɹɛs/

That woman — that usuress — only lent me £20, but expected £50 back after just one week!


interlocutress

Milly hereupon replied appreciatively that such a description of herself made her feel as if pink paper were her dress and lavender its trimming; but Aunt Maud was not to be deterred by a weak joke from keeping it up. Her interlocutress could feel besides that she kept it up in perfect sincerity.

1902, Henry James, The Wings of the Dove:


antifeminist

en-adj

antifeminist (comparative more antifeminist, superlative most antifeminist)

more antifeminist (comparative)
most antifeminist (superlative)

He evolved to connect the antifeminist ridicule of the New Woman to the growing backlash against male homosexuals, the Somdomites and inverts.

2013, Doug Kirshen, Six Weeks—The New Man and the London Theatre Season of 1895: Henry James, Henry Irving, Oscar Wilde (thesis at Brandeis University)


antifeminist

This means, then, that many, if not most, male feminists and male womanists exist, literally, in a "no-man's land," where they receive the cold shoulder from feminists and womanists, and are shamelessly shunned by male antifeminists and antiwomanists and the supersexist men who rule the male supremacist world.

2010, Reiland Rabaka, Forms of Fanonism:

A person who is antagonistic to feminism.


antifeminism

en-noun

antifeminism (countable and uncountable, plural antifeminisms)

Instead, they rallied around issues like free speech and antifeminism, portraying themselves as truth-telling rebels doing battle against humorless “social justice warriors.”

2019 August 6, Kevin Roose, “The Making of a YouTube Radical”, in The New York Times:


temptress

An alluring woman who seduces or exploits men.


seeress

As the seeress stood irresolute the tall young secretary half rose and whispered something in her ear.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

From the numinous fire of fehu Frigg and Freyja receive their gifts as seeresses.

1989, Edred Thorsson, Runelore: A Handbook of Esoteric Runology, York Beach, Me.: S. Weiser, page 115:


sistren

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form. Analysable as sister + -en (plural ending).

nonlemma

[…] teachers, parents, and above all his classmates the seething masses of dutiful zombies and sistren of the Evervirgin Sorority.

1997, Enrico Brizzi, Jack Frusciante Has Left the Band:

(figuratively) The (female) body of members, especially of a sorority or religious order.


sistren

Come out of the dark and come into the light, sistren.

2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 157:

(Rastafari) A close female friend, family member, or comrade.


bunny girl

(slang) A club hostess or other female entertainer wearing a sexually provocative outfit with rabbit-like ears and tail.

兔女郎

club hostess in provocative costume suggestive of a rabbit


fembot

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fembot.wav

Blend of female + -bot. Coined by screenwriters Arthur Rowe and Oliver Crawford in the television series The Bionic Woman (1976–1978), specifically in "Kill Oscar" (season 2, episode 5) first broadcast on October 27, 1976.

(science fiction) A robot in female or feminine form.

A robot in female or feminine form.
A female sexbot.


anchorwoman

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-anchorwoman.wav


ovular

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ovular.wav

From ovule + -ar. In the feminist sense, chosen as an opposite to seminar because of that term's etymological link with semen, the male sexual fluid.

Trebilco considers 'seminar' offensively 'masculinist', so she has replaced it with ovular, which she regards as its feminist equivalent.

1994, Christina Hoff Sommers, Who Stole Feminism?:

(feminism, rare) A seminar for feminists.


fluff girl

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fluff girl.wav

John walked over to the women on the couch with a pandering smile. "I really hate to break this up, but we're ready to roll tape." Rod switched position with Karen's fluff girl, waited for his cue, then it was back to the races.

2000, Peter Scott Harmyk, Say Good-Bye to Johnnie Blue, Ivy House Publishing Group, →ISBN:

Buck looks down at his crotch then back up again, "There's nothing to pick up anymore." Cliff peers around. "Who's the fluff girl today?" The young woman on the sideline steps forward, "I am." "Okay, Annie, please take care of Buck," says Cliff.

2003, Lynn Isenberg, My Life Uncovered, Don Mills, Ont.: Red Dress Ink, →ISBN:

(pornography) A woman who arouses male pornographic actors before filming.


menstrual cycle

en-noun

menstrual cycle (plural menstrual cycles)

The recurring cycle of physiological changes in the uninseminated females of some animal species that is associated with reproductive fertility; especially the cycle in a human.


PMT

PMT (countable and uncountable, plural PMTs)

Other circumstances, such as sunburn, travel, or emotional crisis, can also aggravate fluid retention and "PMT".

1978, Barbara Seaman, Gideon Seaman, Women and the crisis in sex hormones:

Fraser knew girls had periods but he'd never heard of PMT.

In the 20th century Frank coined the term premenstrual tension (PMT).

2006, Peter Clark, Ian A Greer, Practical Obstetric Hematology:

"It's PMT - she'll be back." "I expect that's your father - let's eat."

2006, Rachel Loosmore, Saucy Shorts for Chefs:

premenstrual tension
premenstrual tension#English

(uncountable, medicine, now chiefly UK) Initialism of premenstrual tension.


femininity

femininity (usually uncountable, plural femininities)

From Middle English femynynytee, femyninytee, variants of femynyte (archaic modern English feminity), equivalent to feminine + -ity.

It's almost eerie, in the wake of the Lawrence Summers controversy, to encounter the words of an earlier Harvard president, John Kirkland, a "friend and mentor" of Elizabeth's, who advised her that if any woman "is raised by genius and knowledge above the level of her sex, her neglect of attention appropriate to the best half of creation, attentions called femininities, will more than counterbalance all her advantages and reduce her below other women."

2005 April 17, Francine Rose, “'The Peabody Sisters': Reflected Glory”, in The New York Times:

One outcome of the idea of fluid masculinity and femininity is the notion of genderqueerness.

2012, Jo Reger, Everywhere and Nowhere, page 160:

The sum of all attributes that are feminine or convey womanhood.


moms

but I remember this, moms would lick her finger tips / to wipe the cold out my eye before school with her spit

1996, Ghostface Killah, All That I Got Is You:

My moms, Noojie, had told me that the two little stumps on the sides of my hands came from being born with six fingers, and that's why I was always stealing something.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 34:

(African-American Vernacular) Affectionate term of address for one's mother.


premenstrual tension

Coined by Robert T. Frank in 1931 of New York, the first doctor to treat PMS's physical and psychological components as related to a single cause.

There may be an actual distaste for sexual relations for a week or so prior to the period, perhaps as part of a picture of general irritability and vague feelings of discomfort of which some women complain; the name "premenstrual tension" has been applied to this.

1950, Louis Portnoy, Jules Saltman, Fertility in Marriage: A Guide for the Childless:

However, the pervasive social impact of the premenstrual tension comes from psychological, behavioral change, and this is the time of month that women are likely to be admitted to psychiatric wards.

1950, Public Health Service publication no. 263, sect. 20, 1969:

In 1931, Frank coined the term premenstrual tension, in reference to the cyclical recurrence of tension, anxiety, and suicidal ideation in 15 women during their premenstrual phase.

2006, Corey L.M. Keyes, Sherryl H. Goodman, Women and Depression: A Handbook for the Social, Behavioral, and Biomedical Sciences:

premenstrual syndrome
premenstrual syndrome#English

(now chiefly UK) Synonym of premenstrual syndrome: the physical and psychological malaise experienced by many women between ovulation and the onset of menstruation.


premenstrual syndrome

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Coined by Katharina Dalton in 1953 to replace the earlier premenstrual tension, which she considered accidentally created the impression of focusing solely on PMS's mental aspects.

The thiazides and similar compounds have also been used in patients with edema associated with nephritis and …the premenstrual syndrome….

1968, Diet Pill Industry: Hearings, Ninetieth Congress, Second Session, Pursuant to S. Res. 26 . Part 56, p. 702:

In The Premenstrual Syndrome, Dr. Katherina Dalton summarizes many studies of behavior change that show a large portion of crimes (63 percent in an English study, 84 percent in a French) are not distributed evenly over time, but clustered in the premenstrual interval along with suicides, accidents, a decline in the quality of schoolwork, decline in intelligence test scores, visual acuity, and response speed.

1969: Public Health Service publication no. 263, sect. 20, 1969

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) takes a lot of bashing in the media. It is true that many women become more aggressive during this period, though they are rarely out of control...Therefore, any PMS symptoms that are perceived as unstable are due to the fact that women act more like men during this phase than at any other time in their cycles.

1998, Edain McCoy, Celtic Women's Spirituality:

The term "premenstrual syndrome" first emerged in 1953 when Dr. Katharina Dalton used it to describe the same symptoms delineated by Dr. Frank [who coined premenstrual tension in 1931].

2006, Kristen Brown, Nietzsche And Embodiment: Discerning Bodies and Non-Dualism:

The physical symptoms of this premenstrual syndrome include bloating, weight gain, breast tenderness, abdominal discomfort, lethargy and headache whilst the psychological symptoms include anxiety, irritability, aggression and loss of control.

2006, Geoffrey P Webb, Dietary Supplements And Functional Foods:

premenstrual tension
premenstrual tension

The physical and psychological malaise experienced by many women between ovulation and the onset of menstruation; premenstrual tension.

dysmenorrhea

which in its sense as a symptom can be meronymic to premenstrual syndrome


catamenial

Of or relating to the menses or menstruation


menses

From Latin mēnsis (“month”), the plural being mēnsēs (“months”), corresponding to the monthly courses of women. Compare month.

The discharge of blood mixed with pieces of cellular tissue from the uterus out through the vagina, which occurs roughly every month in uninseminated women; menstrual flow.


washerwoman

‘I wish it would rain,’ continued she; ‘only we are going to have a six-week’s wash to-morrow, and that’s a heavy job for the poor creatures. La! don’t you pity washerwomen in hot weather; it’s the hardest work that’s done.’

1810, [anonymous] […], chapter XXVIII, in Splendid Follies. A Novel, […]. Founded on Facts., volume III, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, pages 123–124:


herstory

herstory (countable and uncountable, plural herstories)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-herstory.wav

Wordplay: blend of her + history, derived as though the first syllable in history were his, the male pronoun.

(feminism) Any historical writing by or about women.


have a bun in the oven

en-verb

have a bun in the oven (third-person singular simple present has a bun in the oven, present participle having a bun in the oven, simple past and past participle had a bun in the oven)

has a bun in the oven (present singular third-person)
having a bun in the oven (participle present)
had a bun in the oven (participle past)
had a bun in the oven (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-have a bun in the oven.wav

Her parents were surprised to learn that she had a bun in the oven.

You really think it's cool for you to hit the sauce with a bun in the oven?

2004, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, spoken by Steve Zissou (Bill Murray):

(informal, sometimes considered vulgar) To be pregnant; to be expecting a baby.

有了

(informal) to be pregnant; to be expecting a baby

olla pulla uunissa (subject in adessive)


giantess

From Middle English geauntesse, geaunesse, from Old French; equivalent to giant + -ess.

He spide far off a mighty Giauntesse / Fast flying, on a Courser dapled gray […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

In the corner lay against the wall a stringed instrument not unlike a dulcimer, which, as people believe, the Giantesses used to play on.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 218:

The giantess picked him up and gave him such a squeeze that he felt he was going to choke.

1926, Enid Blyton, The Book of Brownies:

The giantesses lift arms like the trunks of sycamores, each finger tipped with an amaranthine talon.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 72:


antiabortion

en-adj

antiabortion (comparative more antiabortion, superlative most antiabortion)

more antiabortion (comparative)
most antiabortion (superlative)

Antiabortion activists pointed out that immigrant families, many of them Catholic, were larger and would soon outpopulate native-born white Yankees and threaten their political power.

1996, Leslie J. Reagan, When Abortion Was a Crime:

The news reporters tell us that conservatives are antiabortion, anti–gun control, antidiversity, antienvironment, antieverything.

2001, Gordon K. Durnil, The Making of a Conservative Environmentalist, page 182:

Opposed to the practice or legalization of abortion.


antiabortionist

From antiabortion + -ist or anti- + abortionist.

One who is opposed to the practice of abortion, or to it being legal.

antiavortista

one who is opposed to the practice and/or legality of abortion


postpartum

1844, from Latin post (“after”) + partum (“giving birth”), form of partus, from pariō (“I give birth”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to bring forth”).

der

(of a mother, a symptom, a diagnosis or treatment, etc) After giving birth (often defined as within 30 days after childbirth).

a symptom; a diagnosis or treatment; etc; a symptom; a diagnosis or treatment; etc


shero

Packing estrogen and, not infrequently, a pen and a sword, sheroes come in every imaginable shape, size, and color, and manifest their sheroism in infinite ways.

1998, Varla Ventura, Sheroes: Bold, Brash, and Absolutely Unabashed Superwomen from Susan B. Anthony to Xena, Conari Press, →ISBN, →OL:

Every human grouping, whether it's just two people, a family, people in the neighborhood, people in the city, in a nation, a tribe, a species; people live in direct relation to the heroes and the sheroes they have.

2006 November 30, Dave Chappelle & Maya Angelou (Iconoclasts), season 2, episode 6, Maya Angelou (actor), via Sundance:

He talks about how we must remember the unsung heroes and sheroes of the Talahassee boycott, of the movement in general, and finally, he wonders how C. K. Steele would be accepted here.

2010 April 1, Ana Maria Spagna, Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter's Civil Rights Journey, University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN:

“They are nobodies. They could be silenced tomorrow. They are sheroes, to the world.”

2012 August 17, Melena Ryzik, quoting Kate Conroy, “In New York, a Show of Solidarity for Russian Punk Band”, in New York Times:


TOM

(cytology) Acronym of Translocon on Outer Membrane.


womenfolk

“Ain’t she a splendid specimen of Southern womanhood?” Rufus asked. “Down yonder, they teach their womenfolks to serve.”

1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published 1963 January, page 25:

The adult female members of a community.