boy, n.

[ME. boi, boy, of obscure origin: app. identical with E. Frisian boi, boy ‘young gentleman’; considered by many to be identical with Du. boef (buf) ‘knave’, MDu. boeve, prob. (according to Franck) adopted from MHG. buobe (in mod.G. bube ‘knave’, dial. ‘boy, lad’). It has been proposed to explain bo-y as dim. of bo, and this short for *bobo the W.Ger. type of buobe, bube. The latter is actually found in MHG. only from about the 14th c. Its Teutonic standing is doubtful: see Grimm, Schade, Kluge. (The original sense being uncertain, the order of senses here observed is only provisional.)]
1. A male child below the age of puberty. But commonly applied to all lads still at school, as such; and parents or sisters often continue to speak of their grown-up sons or brothers as ‘the boys’.
c1300 Beket 88 unge childerne and wylde boyes also..scornede hire. ?a1400 Morte Arth. 3123 Boyes in e subarbis bourdene ffulle heghe. c1440 York Myst. xix. 270 So may at boy be fledde. 1535 COVERDALE Zech. viii. 5 The stretes of the citie shalbe full of yonge boyes and damselles [1382 WYCLIF infauntes and maydens; 1388 yonge children and maidens; 1611 boyes and girles]. 1538 BALE Thre Lawes 966 Come, axe me blessynge, lyke praty boyes apace. 1588 SHAKES. L.L.L. IV. i. 122 When King Pippin of France was a little boy. 1653 WALTON Angler 46 The very boyes will learn to talk and swear. 1752 JOHNSON Rambl. No. 198 3 The sailor hated to see tall boys shut up in a school. 1812 BYRON Ch. Har. II. xxiii, Ah! happy years! once more who would not be a boy? 1844 A. WELBY Poems (1867) 97 A noble sturdy boy is he, and yet he’s only five. Prov. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
2. a. Applied playfully, affectionately, or slightingly, to a young man, or one treated as such.
c1320 Seuyn Sages (W.) 1351 Was nowt the boi of wit bereued. c1440 York Myst. xxix. 89 Sir Knyghtis, do kepe is boy [Peter] in bande. Ibid. xi. 247 is boyes [Moses and Aaron] sall byde here in oure bayle. 1580 NORTH Plutarch 42 (R.) This boy who was made overseer of them was commonly twenty years of age. 1592 SHAKES. Rom. & Jul. III. i. 135 Thou wretched Boy that didst consort him here, Shalt with him hence. 1599 Much Ado V. i. 79 If thou kilst me, boy, thou shalt kill a man. 1722 Daily Post 19 Mar., He is a fat, chubby boy, aged about 20 or thereabouts. a1791 WESLEY Serm. lxxxiii. Wks. 1811 IX. 434 Every one has his hobby-horse! Something that pleases the great boy for a few hours.
b. Used instead of ‘man’ in certain localities; e.g. in Cornwall, in Ireland, in the far West of the United States. Cf. B’HOY.
1730 SWIFT Dick’s Var. Wks. 1755 IV. I. 264 Let the boys pelt him if they dare. 18.. Song, ‘St. Patrick was a gentleman’, No wonder that our Irish boys should be so free and frisky! 1847 Paddiana I. 263 Judge Moore having decided in my hearing, that in Ireland the word ‘Boy’ has no reference to age. 1867 HEPWORTH DIXON New America i, These Western boys (every man living beyond the Missouri is a Boy, just as every woman is a Lady). 1880 W. Cornwall Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., There are no men in Cornwall; they are all Cornish boys. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 16 Oct. 11/2 In Ireland anyone who is not married is called a boy... John Gillan, the ‘boy’, a sturdy young man, then gave evidence.
c. In expressions of encouragement or admiration, etc., esp. that’s the boy! (see ATTABOY).
[1843 T. C. HALIBURTON Attaché xxv. 61/2 It’s a great advantage havin’ the minister with you. He’ll fell the big stiff trees for you; and I’m the boy for the saplin’s.] 1902 J. J. BELL Wee Macgreegor ii. 13 ‘If a beast wis gaun fur to pu’ ma heid aff,’ remarked Macgregor, who had grown suddenly bold, ‘I-I-I wudI wud gi’e’t a kick!’ ‘Ye’re the boy!’ said his father. 1932 E. WALLACE When Gangs came to London ii. 26 ‘Ain’t you the boy!’ he said. 1936 J. CURTIS Gilt Kid xvi. 166 ‘Got it?’ echoed Scaley. ‘That’s the boy.’ 1962 H. HOOD in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 205 John’s the boy. Oh, he’s a sharp lad is John.
3. a. A servant, slave. Obs. Now only when a boy in sense 1 or 2.
c1350 Will. Palerne 1705 Sche..borwed boies cloes..& bogeysliche as a boye · busked to e kychene. c1430 LYDG. Bochas II. v. 46b, With his sweorde, but she [Lucretia] would assent Her and a boye he would prent I-fere. 1535 COVERDALE 1 Sam. ii. 13 The prestes boye came, whyle the flesh was seething. 1588 T. L. To Ch. of Rome (1651) 9 By David his Boy, whom his heart approved. 1601 F. TATE Househ. Ord. Edw. II, §94 (1876) 56 That none of the kings meignee..charetter or sompter boy..keepe his wife at the court. 1764 T. JEFFERSON Corr. Wks. 1859 I. 190 You mention one [letter] you wrote last Friday, and sent by the Secretary’s boy. Mod. The doctor’s boy, sir!
b. A camp-follower. Obs.
1599 SHAKES. Hen. V, IV. iv. 82 The French might haue a good pray of vs, if he knew of it, for there is none to guard it [the luggage] but boyes. Ibid. IV. vii. 1 Kill the poyes and the luggage, ‘Tis expressly against the Law of Armes.

c. ‘In Southern India and in China a native personal servant is so termed, and is habitually summoned with the vocative ‘Boy!’ (Yule). Also applied to male Negro slaves of any age; in the South Seas to Polynesians kidnapped in ‘the labour trade’.
1609 HAWKINS in Purchas Pilgr. 211 My boy Stephen Grovenor. 1681 R. KNOX Hist. Ceylon 124 We had a black boy my Father brought from Porta Nova to attend upon him. 1850 MRS. STOWE Uncle Tom xxx, ‘Now up with you, boy! d’ye hear?’ said the auctioneer to Tom. 1875 THOMSON Malacca 228 A faithful servant or boy, as they are here called, about forty years of age. 1884 Pall Mall G. 16 Aug. 1/2 The vessel is granted a licence to carry so many ‘boys’, as the native men are called.
d. In combination with other words, as LINK-BOY, POST-BOY, POT-BOY.
e. In S. Africa, a Coloured or Native labourer or servant of any age. So boss boy, a Coloured or Native overseer; Cape boy, a Cape Coloured man or boy.
1812 A. PLUMPTRE tr. Lichtenstein’s Trav. S. Afr. I. I. viii. 119 A Hottentot..expects to be called by his name if addressed by any one who knows it; and by those to whom it is not known he expects to be called Hottentot..or boy. 1833 J. PHILIP in Lett. Amer. Missionaries (1950) 40 An example of a native boy at Pacaltsdorp conducting a small school. Ibid. 42 A school on the British system taught by a Hottentot boy. 1896 Spectator 2 May 629 A Cape ‘boy’ fighting at Bulawayo is..a coloured native enlisted and drilled within the Colony. 1906 Daily Chron. 11 Apr. 3/6 One white man in the mine is expected to ‘boss’ forty blacks or Chinese, which he cannot do with safety, in fact the black ‘boss-boy’ is left to do much of the blasting. 1963 Times 2 May 12/7 The Johannesburg city council, which employs thousands of Africans in jobs ranging from welfare officers to dustmen, has banned the use of the word ‘boy’ to describe any of them.

4. As a term of contempt: Knave, varlet, rogue, wretch, caitiff. Obs. [In early quotations, not always to be distinguished from BOIE, executioner.]
c1300 K. Alis. 4376 He..threow him over arsun; And saide, ‘ly ther vyle bay!’ c1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 805 In Iherusalem watz my lemman slayn & rent on rode with boyez bolde. c1440 Promp. Parv. 29/1 Bey or boy, scurrus. 1562 W. BULLEIN Bk. Simples 76a, Through a very vile coward or boie, often the valiaunt man is slaine. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 28 Calling him boy, knaue, varlet, slanderer. 1607 SHAKES. Cor. V. vi. 101, 104, 117.
5. Used in familiar address, often with the epithets ‘my’, ‘old’. old boy (see also OLD a. 8a). Hence to old-boy vb.
1601 SHAKES. Twel. N. II. iv. 122 But di’de thy sister of her loue my Boy? 1620 Temp. II. ii. 56 To sea, boys, and let her goe hang. 1712 ARBUTHNOT John Bull (1727) 79 Fear not, old boy; we’ll do it, I’ll warrant thee. 1742 RICHARDSON Pamela III. 380 Never fear, old Boy, said Sir Charles, we’ll bear our Parts in Conversation. 1878 R. BROUGHTON Cometh up as Flower xv. 163 Old boy’ing each other.
6. a. In various connexions, indicating a member of fraternity or band, as in Peep of Day Boys, a secret organization in Ireland; Roaring Boys, riotous fellows of the time of Elizabeth and James I.; also the old boy U.S., the devil; yellow boys, guineas.
c1590 GREENE Tu Quoque in Dodsley VII. 25 (N.) This is no angry, nor no roaring boy, but a blustering boy. 1609 B. JONSON Epicne I. iv. (N.) The doubtfulness of your phrase..would breed you a quarrel once an hour with the terrible boys. 1659 Leg. Capt. Jones (Halliw.), In hope to get such roaring boys as he. 1712 Whig & Tory iii. 34 He [Sacheverell] had Meat, and Drink, and yellow Boys. 1802 Balance (Hudson, N.Y.) 14 Oct. 317 (Th.), The devil has been nick-named the old boy. 1837-40 HALIBURTON Clockm. (1862) 140 As we invigorate the form of government (as we must do, or go to the old boy). 1831 CARLYLE Sart. Res. III. x. 331 In Ireland..Ribbonmen, Cottiers, Peep-of-Day Boys. 1854 M. J. HOLMES Tempest & Sunshine xv. 203 Where the old boy is your mistress? 1953 A. MILLER Crucible (1956) I. 32 The Church’s enemies relied no less upon the Old Boy to keep the human mind enthralled.
b. A rough or rowdy (e.g. of the streets); freq. pl. in the boys = criminals; spec. the thieves and swindlers who frequent race-courses.
1834 Knickerbocker III. 34 The landlord after telling me not to mind the boys, went about his business. 1840 Daily Picayune (New Orleans) 28 Aug. 2/1 The Bowery boys of New York have..eclipsed the nice young men of Baltimore. 1843 Punch 29 Apr. 179/2 The comments and cheers of those very important members of street society, the boys. a1889 in Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang, Cleansing the rings from..those criminal scoundrels known as the boys. 1938 F. D. SHARPE S. of Flying Squad i. 13 Down goes the Squad the night before to greet ‘the boys’ at the turnstiles. Ibid. v. 64 Word went round among the ‘boys’ that the takings had been hefty.
c. pl. Men of the armed forces; soldiers. So boys in blue: see BLUE n. 3b.
1861 O. W. NORTON Army Lett. (1903) 19 It was then announced that the whole thing was a canard, started just to keep the boys quiet. 1881 F. E. WEATHERLY Old Brigade 2 Where are the boys of the Old Brigade? c1915 L. G. FORD (song) Keep the Home Fires Burning, Turn the dark cloud inside out, Till the boys come home. 1959 M. SHADBOLT New Zealanders 36 The time when we would watch the boys swing, bayonets flashing,..towards the grey waiting ships.
d. pl. Members of a group sharing common interests; one’s fellows or habitual companions; esp. in colloq. phr. one of the boys: one who belongs to such a group; spec. one who conforms to its interests or practices, ‘a good sport’. colloq. So jobs for the boys, appointments for one’s supporters or favourites.
1886 Lantern (New Orleans) 8 Sept. 3/1 When he happens in with the boys, he can enjoy himself. 1889 W. SKEY Pirate Chief 195 He goes on Sundays to the ‘pub.’ And sits among ‘the boys’. 1893 Ladies’ Home Jrnl. Nov. 20/3 She doesn’t want to be treated like a lady because she wants to be ‘one of the boys’. 1905 BEERBOHM in Sat. Rev. 11 Nov. 620/1 On him, somehow, the blight of the theatre has not fallen... He is not, and may never become, ‘one o’ the boys’. 1930 WODEHOUSE Very Good, Jeeves! vii. 192 A chummy lion-tamera tamer who, after tucking the lions in for the night, relaxes in the society of the boys. 1939 I. BAIRD Waste Heritage v. 63 He..stopped to watch a half-dozen of the boys playing blackjack. 1950 D. & C. CHRISTIE His Excellency I. i, It’s just a political racketJobs for the Boys. 1955 M. GILBERT Sky High i. 19 ‘It wasn’t exactly a popular appointment, was it?’ ‘It certainly wasn’t,’ said the General... ‘Jobs for the Boys.’ 1969 New Yorker 3 May 64/3 He doesn’t do it by being one of the boys. That’s not his nature. He’s a lone wolf.
e. With defining word or phrase prefixed = men (of the kind indicated by the defining element). (Cf. backroom boy.) colloq.
1941 F. & R. LOCKRIDGE Murder out of Turn iv. 39 The B.C.I. boys will be along. 1945 A. HUXLEY Time must have Stop xxx. 288 Just a little bit of Wordsworth, say the blue-dome-of-nature boys. Ibid. 291 Adler and Freud, the Dialectical Materialism boys and the Behaviourists. 1958 Spectator 7 Feb. 167/2 The public relations boys could really go to town. 1963 R. PARKER tr. Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in Life of Denisovich 36 Oh no, he wasn’t ill, the security boys were keeping him back.
7. Comb. (in which ‘boy’ often approaches the force of an adjective); a. appositive, indicating sex, as boy-angel, -baby, -brood, -child, -cousin, elephant; or immaturity, as boy-actor, -bridegroom, -crusader, -ensign, -God, -husband, -king, -lover, -man, -officer, -poet, -spouse; or with words added which indicate the assumption of another personality, as in boy-girl, -harlot, -wench; also boy-bishop, the boy elected by his fellows to play the part of bishop from St. Nicholas’ Day to Innocents’ Day; b. attributive (of or pertaining to boys), as boy-kind, -nature; c. obj. gen. with vbl. n., as boy-queller. Also boy-blind a., blind as a boy; boy-crazy a., (of a girl) eager to associate with boys; boy-farm slang, a school (cf. FARM n.2 7); so boy-farmer; boy friend, boy-friend colloq., a male friend; spec. a woman’s favourite male escort or companion; also with implication of an illicit relationship, a paramour; occas., the associate of a homosexual; boy-rid a., overdone with boys (after the analogy of BED-RID); boy-storied a. that of which stories are told by boys; boy-like adv. and adj.

8. Phrases. boy and girl (also with hyphens), attrib. phr., pertaining to or involving a boy and a girl; applied esp. to a juvenile attachment; boy-meets-girl (colloq. esp. attrib.), referring to a copybook romance; boy next door (colloq.), the young man in a conventional romance; a simple, unsophisticated young man; boys will be boys: an expression of resignation towards childish ways.
1841 DICKENS Barn. Rudge xxvi. 84, I have found it necessary to take some active steps towards setting this boy and girl attachment quite at rest. 1870 L. M. ALCOTT Old-Fashioned Girl viii. 132 It’s only a boy-and-girl fancy, that will soon die a natural death. 1934 P. BOTTOME Private Worlds v. 54 It was what people called ‘a boy and girl affair’, but they can go quite deep. 1945 ‘A. GILBERT’ Don’t Open Door! ix. 80 The murder..had more of those features that make a crime fascinating to the general public. There was no boy-meets-girl element. 1947 Landfall I. 45 This immediately.. reduces the story to the familiar Hollywood formula of boy-meets-girl. 1955 T. STERLING Evil of Day viii. 80 The boy-next-door parody was meant to amuse her. 1958 Photoplay Oct. 54/1 His whole build-up is based on The Boy Next Doorthe boy who’s within reach of every girl fan.

1848 THACKERAY Van. Fair xiii. 112 And as for the pink bonnets..why boys will be boys. 1858 C. M. YONGE Christmas Mummers ix. 131 All he had ever known against Asaph Harper was keeping company with the like of them: but boys would be boys. 1964 WODEHOUSE Frozen Assets iii. 50, I tried to tell him that boys will be boys and you’re only young once.

9. (oh) boy! a colloq. (orig. U.S.) exclamation of shock, surprise, excitement, etc.; freq. used to give emphasis to a statement that follows it. Cf. ATTABOY.
1917 Amer. Mag. Mar. 13/1 ‘I told that dame I was Kid Hanlon.’..’Oh, boy!’ I yells. 1927 Punch 7 Sept. 263 Oh, boy, I feel good! 1930 D. H. LAWRENCE Nettles 17 And they blushed, they giggled, they sniggered, they leered..and said: Oh boy!..that’s pretty hot! 1934 M. HODGE Wind & Rain I. i. 18 Boy! They don’t wear a damned thing! 1942 L. D. RICH We took to Woods (1944) ii. 34 Maine guides have a legend of quaintness to uphold, and boy! do they uphold it. 1958 ‘N. SHUTE’ Rainbow & Rose i. 2, I slithered in over the fence and put her [sc. the aeroplane] down and boy! was I glad to be on the ground!

ADDITIONS SERIES 1993

boy, n.1
Add: [7.] boy wonder colloq., an exceptionally talented young man or boy; cf. wonder boy s.v. WONDER n. 9 a.
1925 New Yorker 5 Sept. 10/1 All sorts of names such as, ‘infant phenomenon’, and ‘*boy wonder’, have been applied to Lacoste. 1951 Sport 30 Mar. 12/3 Seconds Out will be ridden by Lester Piggott, the boy wonder. 1986 N.Y. Times 31 Aug. VI. 25/2 All that might seem too downbeat for a man who still has the seductive charm and youthful vitality of an ageless boy wonder.

DRAFT ADDITIONS SEPTEMBER 2002

boy, n.1
boy band, a young all-male pop group; spec. such a group whose music and image are designed to appeal primarily to a teenage audience.
1985 Guardian 7 Nov. 11/5 Moody *boy bands like The Waterboys and The Cult are making heavy records with deep lyrics for pimply adolescents with Camus peeping out of the jacket pocket. 1986 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 16 Mar. II. 24/1 A ‘girl group’ is still singular enough to require notice. No one reviewed U2 as the latest boy band from Ireland. 1993 Newsday (Nexis) 10 Sept. 20 The boy-band from Boston is getting long in the tooth for its prime audiencethe under-16 set. 1995 Face Sept. 37/3 Your average boy band generally can’t wait to flee the potentially stigmatising orbit of the gay club scene. 2000 F. WALKER Power of Two in J. Adams et al. Girls’ Night In 48 Admittedly he’d tried to kiss me, but he’d also tried to kiss two members of a boy band.
boy wonder colloq., an exceptionally talented young man or boy, esp. one showing a great deal of promise; cf. wonder boy s.v. WONDER n. 9a.
1898 Cent. Mag. Sept. 686/2 At this time Reynolds was dead, Romney was failing, Lawrence was as yet little more than a *boy wonder, so that for a short time Hoppner had matters quite his own way. 1940 Detective Comics Apr. No. 38 (cover), The sensational character-find of 1940Robin, the Boy Wonder. 1986 N.Y. Times 31 Aug. VI. 25/2 All that might seem too downbeat for a man who still has the seductive charm and youthful vitality of an ageless boy wonder. 2001 Sunday Mirror (Electronic ed.) 30 Dec., Jari Litmanen crossed, Heskey chested the ball down and there was the Boy Wonder to fire home.

girl, n.

[Of obscure etymology. A conjecture favoured by many scholars (Möller, Noreen, Luick) is that the word represents OE. *gyrela masc., *gyrele fem.:OTeut. types *gurwilon-, -ôn-, a dim. of *gurwjo-z, -jâ (found in LG. gre, boy, girl):Aryan *ghwghw-, presumed to be represented in Gr. virgin. This involves some uncertain phonological assumptions, and the late appearance of the Teut. words gives additional ground for doubt, the ME. gürle being recorded only from the end of the 13th c., and the LG. gre from the 17th c. It may be noted that boy, lad, lass, and the numerous synonyms in the mod. Scandinavian langs., are all of difficult etymology; probably most of them arose as jocular transferred uses of words that had originally a different meaning.]
1. A child or young person of either sex, a youth or maiden. Chiefly in pl.: Children, young people. knave girl: a boy. gay girl: applied to a young woman. Obs.
c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 108/76 And suye gret prece of gurles and Men: comen hire al-a-boute. 13.. K. Alis. 2802 Men myghte ther y-seo hondis wrynge..Women scrike, girles gredyng. c1350 Will. Palerne 816 And whan e gaye gerles were in-to e gardin come, Faire floures ei founde. 1362 LANGL. P. Pl. A. XI. 131 Gramer for gurles I gon furste to write, And beot hem with a baleys but if thei wolde lernen. c1386 CHAUCER Prol. 666 In daunger hadde he at his owne gyse The yonge girles of the diocyse, And knew hir counseil, and was al hir reed. c1450 Bk. Curtasye 328 in Babees Bk. 308 Ne delf ou neuer nose thyrle With thombe ne fyngur, as ong gyrle. c1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 181 Here knave gerlys I xal steke.
2. a. A female child; commonly applied to all young unmarried women.
1530 PALSGR. 922 A gyrle [F. garce] havyng laughyng eyes. c1530 REDFORDE Play Wit & Sc. (Shaks. Soc.) 17 Idelnes. Thow [Recreacion] art occacion, lo! of more evyll Then I, poore gerle, nay, more then the dyvyll! 1546 HEYWOOD Prov. (1874) 50 The boy thy husband, and thou the girle, his wife. 1591 SHAKES. Two Gent. V. iv. 134, I hold him but a foole that will endanger His Body, for a Girle that loues him not. a1652 BROME Queene’s Exch. I. ii. Wks. 1873 III. 467 What’s that my Girle? 1679 Hatton Corr. (1878) 197 note, One of his sisters..announces the birth of a very lusty garle. 1709 STEELE Tatler No. 75 1 The Girl is a Girl of great Merit..she converses with me..like a Daughter. 1760 C. JOHNSTON Chrysal II. I. ii. 11, I will lay you, and you shall lose, my girl, if it was ten times as much. 1784 COWPER Task II. 227 As smooth And tender as a girl, all-essenced o’er With odours. 1855 BROWNING Fra Lippo 214 You should not take a fellow eight years old And make him swear to never kiss the girls. 1859 GEO. ELIOT A. Bede 62 To think of a gell o’ your age wanting to go and sit with half-a-dozen men. 1863 LANDOR Heroic Idylls, Theron & Zoe 27 Girls often say More than they mean: men always do. 1894 H. H. GARDENER Unoff. Patriot 329 No girl is ever quite good enough to marry any mother’s son.
Prov. 1683 TRYON Way to Health 628 The Proverb is certainly true..He that Marries a Girl, marrs a Woman.

ld girl: Applied colloq. to a woman at any time of life, either disrespectfully or (occas.) as an endearing term of address, spec. one’s mother or wife; also, a former pupil of a girls’ school or college; also attrib. Similarly, to a mare, etc.
1826 T. CREEVEY Let. 22 Aug. in J. Gore Creevey (1948) xvii. 266 The old girl has a jointure of £5,000 a year. 1837 DICKENS Pickw. xiv, ‘Cheer up, old girl’, said Tom, patting the bay mare on the neck..’Soho, old girlgentlygently’. 1848 C. BRONTË J. Eyre ii. (1890) 19 He called his mother ‘old girl’, too. 1853 DICKENS Bleak Ho. xxvii. 272 You know me. It’s my old girl that advises. Ibid. 273 ‘Old girl,’ says Mr. Bagnet, ‘give him my opinion.’ 1875 C. M. YONGE Let. 6 Apr. in C. Coleridge C. M. Yonge (1903) 262 Fifty-four mothers had tea in the school... So many are my own old girls. 1898 J. D. BRAYSHAW Slum Silhouettes 220 He lets aht that Liz an’ ‘er ole gal was going ter the Crystal Palice. 1947 D. M. DAVIN Gorse blooms Pale 55 ‘Poor old girl,’ he said as he leg-roped her [sc. a cow]. 1954 E. JENKINS Tortoise & Hare ix. 89 It was Old Girls’ Week-end at her school. 1954 G. SMITH Flaw in Crystal x. 95 One hears these things on the old-girl network. 1967 E. LEMARCHAND Death of Old Girl ix. 109 She said she might still be held up at some Old Girls’ supper.
b. A maid-servant. Also in girl-of-all-work.
1668 PEPYS Diary 24 Aug., My wife is upon hanging the long chamber, where the girl lies, with the sad stuff that was in the best chamber. 1812 A. ADAMS in J. Adams’ Lett. (1848) 409 Seven o’clock. Blockheads not out of bed. Girls in motion. Mean, when I hire another man~servant, that he shall come for one call. 1875 Scribner’s Monthly X. 287 But all this time we had no girl, and..at last I determined to go and get a girl myself. So one day at lunch-time I went to an intelligence office in the city. 1882 MRS. ALEXANDER Freres I. ii. 19, I [a landlady] must look to it myself, for I never yet see a gurl I could trust with a hegg. 1883 S. C. HALL Retrospect II. 139 A dirty, slipshod girl-of-all-work bawled at me from the area.
c. A sweetheart, lady-love. Also (U.S. colloq. or slang) best girl. Similarly, one’s wife.

1648 HERRICK Hesper. 24 Some ask’d how Pearls did grow, and where? Then spoke I to my Girle, To part her lips, and shew’d them there The Quarelets of Pearl. 1772 J. WEDGWOOD Let. 4 Oct. (1965) 137 Your good Lady is really recovering her health.., though more slowly than we could wish, which is exactly the case of my poor Girl. 1791 ‘G. GAMBADO’ Ann. Horsem. vii. (1809) 97, I may lose my dear girl for ever. 1887, etc. [see BEST a. 2c]. 1899 W. BESANT Orange Girl I. v. 59, I drew my girl closer and kissed her. 1912 T. DREISER Financier v. 54 Before leaving to call on his girl, Marjorie Stafford. 1917 Punch 15 Aug. 125/2 And when the War is over, some knight or belted earl, What’s survived from killin’ Germans, will take ‘er for ‘is girl. 1940 L. MACNEICE Last Ditch 23 Life in a day: he took his girl to the ballet. 1952 M. R. RINEHART Pool xxviii. 249 He even had a girl, although he said he wouldn’t marry her until he was cleared of the murder charge.
d. (More fully, a girl about or of the town, a girl of ease): a prostitute. a kind girl: a mistress.
1711 STEELE Spect. No. 187 2, I know not whether you have ever heard of the famous girl about Town called Kitty: This Creature..was my Mistress. 1712 ADDISON Ibid. No. 486 1, I am very particularly acquainted with one who is under entire Submission to a kind Girl, as he calls her..No longer than Tuesday last he took me with him to visit his Mistress. 1756 Demi-Rep 6 The Men of pleasure, and the Girls of ease. 1815 W. H. IRELAND Scribbleomania 141 Lewis, of monkish renown, Who tickled the fancies of girls of the town. 1851 MAYHEW Lond. Labour I. 477 The ‘gals’ are sure to be beaten cruelly..by their ‘chaps’.
e. A black woman. U.S. colloq. Obs.
1835 J. H. INGRAHAM South-West II. 242 They always address them [sc. the slaves] as ‘boy’ and ‘girl’, to all under forty years of age. 1879 A. W. TOURGÉE Fool’s Errand x. 42 You must remember that all colored women are ‘girls’.
f. Colloq. phr. (all) girls together, on terms of close friendship with another girl or girls; also attrib. (hyphened).
1931 R. FERGUSON Brontës went to Woolworth’s xii. 141 It would be terrible if she wanted to be all-girls-together with me about him. 1946 ‘S. RUSSELL’ To Bed with Grand Music viii. 101 She seemed more than willing to re-establish a girls-together relationship with Deborah. 1959 J. BRAINE Vodi xiv. 185 That would-be refined, all-girls-together voice. 1961 A. CHRISTIE Pale Horse xii. 128, I got her softened up... Girls-together stuff.
g. les girls, girls collectively; spec. chorus girls.
1938 S. BECKETT Murphy ix. 193 The sceptic rut that places the objects of its curiosity on the level of Les Girls. 1955 E. WAUGH Officers & Gentlemen 178 He had come to the bar for stimulus, for a spot of pleasantry with ‘les girls’. 1967 J. PORTER Chinks in Curtain ix. 89, I haven’t seen hide or hair of him. He’s probably still shacked up with les girls.
h. (the) girl next door, the girl in a conventional romance; a trusting, sweet, and faithful but usu. unimaginative young woman.
1961 Sunday Express 28 May 18/5 June Thorburn..has been trying..to break away from her usual ‘girl next door’ film roles. 1962 C. N. PARKINSON In-Laws & Outlaws 37 It is the itch to marry the girl next door which is the mark of those predestined for merely average success. 1963 Listener 24 Jan. 165/1 She had all the physical equipment of the vamp, but the spirit of the girl next door. 1968 Times Educ. Suppl. 23 Feb. 602/2 Diana Quirk’s Ophelia was very much the girl-next-door.
3. A roebuck in its second year. Obs.
1486 Bk. St. Albans Eivb, The first yere he [the Roo~bucke] is a kyde..The secunde yere he is a gerle..The thirde yere an hemule. 1576 TURBERV. Venerie 236 A Rowe, the which is called the first yeare a Kidde, the second Gyrle, the third an Hemuse. 1660 HOWELL Parley Beasts 62 Those pretty Fawns, Prickets, Sorrells, Hemuses, and Girls..which I [a Hinde] brought into the world. 1726 Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), Girle (among Hunters) a Roe-buck of 2 Years.
4. attrib. and Comb. a. appositive, indicating sex, as girl-child, -clerk, -friend, -graduate, -miser, -sculler, -soldier, -sorter, -warrior, -worker; or youthfulness, as girl-bride, -mother, -queen, -widow, -wife, -woman; b. simple attrib., as girl-life, -nature, -tragedy; c. objective, as girl-confining adj.; girl-crazy, -shy adjs. girl-like adj. and adv. Also girl-boy, ? a girlish boy; girl friend, girl-friend, a female friend; spec. a sweetheart; a man’s favourite female companion; girl guide: see GUIDE n. 2d; girl scout U.S., a girl guide.