biddy
English
editPronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /ˈbɪdi/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪdi
Etymology 1
editDerived from Biddy, diminutive form of Bridget. It became a generic name for an Irish maid (US), and then for an old woman.
Noun
editbiddy (plural biddies)
- (derogatory) A woman, especially an old woman; especially one regarded as fussy or mean or a gossipy busybody.
- 1970-1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
- That Mich drag Loretta sent me about 10 pictures of her so I wouldn't think her a "decrepit old lady." But too bad—she looked like someone's biddy aunt.
- 1970-1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
- (uncommon) An attractive girl.
- (archaic, colloquial) An Irish maidservant.
- (by extension, derogatory) An Irishwoman.
- A name used in calling a hen or chicken, often as "biddy-biddy-biddy".
- c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 3, scene 4, line 115:
- Ay, biddy, come with me.
- 1915, Thornton W. Burgess, chapter XI, in The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company:
- "Well, we'll see about it by and by," said Farmer Brown's boy. "There's the breakfast bell, and I haven't fed the biddies yet."
- breasts (when used in the phrase "tig biddies" derived from "big tiddies")
- 2005 Rejected: You Never Know What You're Gonna Get - Page 29
- It ain't like you ain't never seen these tig ole biddies before.
- 2005 Rejected: You Never Know What You're Gonna Get - Page 29
Derived terms
editTranslations
edita woman, especially an old woman; especially one regarded as fussy or mean or a gossipy busybody
|
an attractive little girl
a name used in calling a hen or chicken
Etymology 2
editNoun
editbiddy (plural biddies)
- (US) Alternative spelling of bitty.
- 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 210:
- “Was it in buckets or them little biddy cans?”
Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪdi
- Rhymes:English/ɪdi/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with uncommon senses
- English terms with archaic senses
- English colloquialisms
- English terms with quotations
- American English