generally containing an implication of lewdness and 'fastness.' Not now in literary use, though formerly so. [From its primary sense of a female dog.] It is the most offensive apellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore.
1400. Chester Pl. (1843), 181. Whom calleste thou queine skabde biche? [m.]
1575. J. Still, Gammer Gurton, II., ii. Come out, thou hungry needy bitch. [m.]
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 9. An extravagant bitch of a wife.
1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVII., ch. iii. There was my lady cousin Bellaston, and my lady Betty, and my lady Catharine, and my lady I don't know who; damn me if ever you catch me among such a kennel of hoop-petticoated bitches.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1834), 446. You are a . . . son of a bitch.
2. (old.)—Applied, opprobriously, as in sense 1, to a man. It has long since passed out of decent usage.
c. 1500. E. E. Misc. (1855), 54. He is a schrewed byche, In fayth, I trow, he be a wyche.
1675. Hobbes, Odyssey, xviii., 310. Ulysses looking sourly answered, You bitch. [m.]
1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVII., iii. It is an old acquaintance of above twenty years standing. I can tell you landlord is a vast comical bitch, you will like un hugely.
Verb (low).—1. To go whoring; molrowing; to frequent the company of prostitutes.
2. To yield, or give up an attempt through fear.—Grose.
3. (common.)—To spoil; to bungle.
To stand bitch.—To make tea, or do the honours of the tea table, or to perform a female part. Bitch is here used generically for a woman.
Bitch Booby, subs. (old military).—A country girl.—Grose.
Bitchery, subs. (low).—Harlotry; lewdness. [From bitch, sense 1, + ery.]
1532-3. More, Confut. Tindale, wks., 648, col. 1. Such marriage is very vnlawfull leckery and plain abhominable bychery.
1598. Marston, Sco. Villanie, I., iv., 188. He will vnline himselfe from bitchery.
1663-1704. Thomas Brown, Works, Serious and Comical, III., p. 94. Thither run Sots purely to be drunk that they may . . . forget . . . the roguery of their lawyers, the bitchery of their paramours, or the ingratitude of the world.
(?). Stanyhurst, Description of Ireland, p. 14. The quip sat as unseemly in his mouth as for a whore to reprehend bitchery, or for an usurer to condemn simony.
Bitch Party, subs. (popular).—A party composed of women. Originally an Oxford term for a tea-party, tea being considered a beverage only fit for women. [From bitch, a woman, + party.] Also hen party (q.v.). Cf., Stag party.
1889. C. Whibley, In Cap and Gown, Characters of Freshmen, p. 176. 'The studious freshman . . . goeth to a small bitch-party and findeth his gown taken "by mistake."'
Bite, subs. (old).—1. An old slang term for money.—See Bit.
2. (old.)—The female pudenda. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.
3. An imposition; a piece of humbug; a 'sell' or 'do.' Cf., Bilk, Bam, Bargain, and Sell, for synonyms. The sense runs
