1607. Dekker, Northward Hoe, i. 2. A lodging of your providing! to be called a lieutenant's or a captain's WENCH.
1607. How a Man May Choose a Good Wife, etc., iv. 3 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix. 78). A huffing wench i' faith.
1611. Bible, 2 Samuel xvii. 17. A wench went and told them.
1630. Taylor, Works. But yet, me thinkes, he gives thee but a frumpe, In telling how thee kist a wenches rumpe.
1651. Randolph, Hey for Honesty, iii. 3. The wenches will tumble and merrily jumble.
d. 1654. Selden, Table Talk, 'Clergy.' The fellow that was a great wencher.
1660-69. Pepys, Diary, III. 207. My cozen Roger told us . . . that the Archbishop of Canterbury . . . is as very a wencher as can be.
1663. Killigrew, Parson's Wedding [Dodsley, Old Plays (1875), xiv. 438]. Rather than marry, keep a wench.
1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, ii. 1. A man . . . may bring his bashful wench, and not have her put out of countenance by the impudent honest women of the town. Ibid., v. 6. Dap. Why she was my wench. Gripe. I'll make her honest then.
1686-7. Aubrey, Gentilisnte (1881), 163. The towne is full of wanton wenches, and . . . (they say) scarce three honest women in the town.
1686. Durfey, Commonw. of Wordes, i. 1. I hate your young Wenches, Skitish Colts—they are so hard mouth'd, there's no dealing with 'em.
1702. Steele, The Funeral, or Grief à la Mode, Act. i. This wench I know has played me false, and horned me in my gallants. [Note.—That the speaker is a female shows the word to have been transferable to the other sex.]
1711. Steele, Tatler, 242. The wench in the kitchen sings and scours from morning till night. Ibid. (1711), Spectator, 2. He . . . can inform you from which of the French kings's wenches our wives and daughters had this manner of curling their hair.
1109. Malkin, Gil Blas [Routledge], 311. Is he fond of play? Does he wench?
1856. Dow, Sermons, III. 111. The blushing morn at length came travelling up from the oriental clime, and sowed the earth with pearls and diamonds, that glittered upon the dark bosom of night like jewels upon the brow of an Ethiopian WENCH.
West-central, subs. phr. (common).—A water-closet: i.e. W.C.
Westminster-wedding, subs. phr. (old).—'A Whore and a Rogue Married together' (B. E. and Grose).
Westphalia, subs. (trade).—The backside; the bum (q.v.): an allusion to Westphalia hams.
West-Pointer, subs. phr. (American).—A student, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Westralia, subs. (commercial).—Western Australia. [Morris: The word was coined to meet the necessities of the submarine cable regulations, which confine messages to words containing not more than ten letters.]
1896. Studio, Oct., 151. The latest example is the El Dorado of Western Australia, or as she is beginning to be more generally called 'Westralia.'
1896. Nineteenth Century, Nov., 711. The Westralian Mining Boom [Title].
1901. Pall Mall Gaz., 15 May, 4. 3. Westralians continue decidedly firm, notwithstanding the troubles of the markets and the slackness of business.
Westy-head, adj. phr. (old).—Dizzy, giddy (Hall, Satires).
Wet, subs. (common).—Generic for drink, booze (q.v.): spec. 'drink demanded or expected of anyone wearing new clothes' (Grose). Whence to wet a coat (bargain, deal, etc.) = to
