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Wench
Definitions
- 1 A girl or young woman, especially a buxom or lively one. archaic, dialectal, humorous, offensive, possibly
"Jane played the role of a wench in an Elizabethan comedy."
- 2 informal terms for a (young) woman wordnet
- 3 A girl or young woman, especially a buxom or lively one.; A girl or young woman of a lower class. archaic, dialectal, humorous, offensive, possibly, specifically
"The woman is a brazen, hard-looking wench, a female pedlar, who hawks needles, thread, cheap looking-glasses, pious pictures, almanacs, hair-pins, ballads, of the most humble pattern, through the country."
- 4 Used as a term of endearment for a female person, especially a wife, daughter, or girlfriend: darling, sweetheart. archaic, dialectal
"When I am dead, good Wench, / Let me be vs'd with Honor; ſtrew me ouer / With Maiden Flowers, that all the world may know / I was a chaſte Wife, to my Graue: [...]"
- 5 A woman servant; a maidservant. archaic
"When they had kyndled a fyre in the myddes of the palys / and were sett doune to gedder / Peter alsoo sate doune amonge them. And won off the wenches / as he sate / beholde him by the light and sett goode eyesight on him / and sayde: This same was also with hym. Then he denyed hym sayinge: Woman I knowe hym nott."
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- 6 A promiscuous woman; a mistress (“other woman in an extramarital relationship”). archaic
"2 [Friar Bernardine]. Thou haſt committed— / Bar[abas]. Fornication? but that was in another Country; And beſides, the Wench is dead."
- 7 A prostitute. archaic
- 8 A black woman (of any age), especially if in a condition of servitude. US, archaic, historical
"Nancy Basset, 28, likely wench, mulatto / Proved to be free. / Certified free as per General Birch Certificate. / / Patience Jackson, 23, very likely wench, mulatto / Says she was born free Rhode Island. / Certified free as per General Birch Certificate."
- 1 To frequent prostitutes; to whore; also, to womanize. archaic, humorous, intransitive
"This is ſure ſome hide-bound ſtudent, that proportions his expence by his penſion; and wencheth at Tottenham court for ſtewed prunes and cheeſcakes."
- 2 frequent prostitutes wordnet
- 3 To act as a wench. archaic, intransitive
"λαικάζω (laikázō), to wench"
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English wench, wenche (“female baby; girl (especially unmarried); maiden, young woman; bondwoman; serving maid; beloved, sweetheart; concubine, mistress; harlot, prostitute”) [and other forms], a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wenċel, winċel (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankilą, from Proto-Germanic *wankijaną (“to sway; waver”). The English word is cognate with Old High German wenken (“to waver; to give way, yield”), wankōn (“to totter”). The verb is derived from the noun.
The noun is derived from Middle English wench, wenche (“female baby; girl (especially unmarried); maiden, young woman; bondwoman; serving maid; beloved, sweetheart; concubine, mistress; harlot, prostitute”) [and other forms], a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wenċel, winċel (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankilą, from Proto-Germanic *wankijaną (“to sway; waver”). The English word is cognate with Old High German wenken (“to waver; to give way, yield”), wankōn (“to totter”). The verb is derived from the noun.
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