Definition of "wench"

I, like a tẽder harted wench, skriked out for feare of the divell.

c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Second Booke] Chapter 14”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, page 238

hee weepes like a wench that had ſhed hermilke, he hath confeſt himſelfe to Morgan, whom hee ſuppoſes to be a Friar, [...]

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii], page 247, column 2

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz ſtayed by En-rogel: (for they might not be ſeene to come into the citie) and a wench went and told them: and they went, and tolde king Dauid.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Samuel 17:17, column 1

Beside, this I affirm—affordImpression of it in thy soul—I will not use my swordOn thee or any for a wench, unjustly though thou tak'stThe thing thou gav'st; […]The spelling has been modernized.

, Homer, “Book I”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter; The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, page 35

He [a chief minister] is uſually governed by a decayed Wench, or favourite Footman, who are the Tunnels through which all Graces are conveyed, and may properly be called, in the laſt Reſort, the Governors of the Kingdom.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Continuation of the State of England; so Well Governed by a Queen as to Need no First Minister. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 248

He was received by the daughter of the house, a pretty, buxom, blue-eyed little wench, who seemed to regard the tall, bronzed, black-eyed stranger with much and evident favour.

1887, William Black, “New Quarters”, in Sabina Zembra […], volume III, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., page 22

We got wenches on the benches, and bitties with tittiesHousing all girlies from city to city

1986 November 15, Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin (lyrics and music), “Rhymin & Stealin”, in Licensed to Ill, performed by the Beastie Boys

"Can't we use a real girl? Can't Maria just play along?""She's at the movies with Chanel.""Lucky wench. Why can't Ryan just be with a guy? Aren't you offended?""Just doing what Rain said to do. And actually, a little, yeah."

2012 September 25, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 262 - Too Funny

When I am dead, good Wench,Let me be vs'd with Honor; ſtrew me ouerWith Maiden Flowers, that all the world may knowI was a chaſte Wife, to my Graue: [...]

1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii], page 226, column 2

The mother held her tight,Saying hard between her teeth—'Why wench, why wench,The squire speaks to you now—the squire's too good;He means to set you up, and comfort us.Be mannerly at least.'

1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Third Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, page 126

When they had kyndled a fyre in the myddes of the palysand were sett doune to gedderPeter alsoo sate doune amonge them. And won off the wenchesas he satebeholde him by the light and sett goode eyesight on himand sayde: This same was also with hym. Then he denyed hym sayinge: Woman I knowe hym nott.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], The Gospell off S. Luke xxij:[55–57], folios cxiiii, recto – cxiiii, verso

"I fear there is a chase; I think I hear three or four galloping together; I am sure I hear more horses than one.""Pooh, pooh, it is the wench of the house that is clattering to the well in her pattens; [...]."

1819, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter V, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume I (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], page 150

[...] working for Colonel Boone a the time--and two more men whose names I disremember now, and a nigger wench we had for a cook. [...] So I got onto one of the ponies and led the others down to the spring near camp to water them while the wench was a getting breakfast, and some o' the rest o' the outfit was a fixin the saddles and greasing the wagon.

1881, Henry Inman, “A Legend of Pawnee Rock; or How the life of an old trapper was saved by a bird”, in Stories of the Old Santa Fe Trail‎, Kansas City, Missouri: Ramsey, Millett & Hudson, page 89,91

2 [Friar Bernardine]. Thou haſt committed—Bar[abas]. Fornication? but that was in another Country; And beſides, the Wench is dead.

c. 1589–1590, Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Ievv of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, Act IV

Whilſt Men have theſe Ambitious Fancies,And wanton Wenches read Romances,Our Sex will—What? out with it: Lye:And Theirs in equal Strains reply.Originally printed for Jacob Tonson as an anonymous, double-sided pamphlet.

1702, Mat[thew] Prior, “To a Young Gentleman in Love. A Tale.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, 2nd edition, London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], published 1709, page 103

It must not thought a digression from my intended speculation, to talk of bawds in a discourse upon wenches; for a woman of the town is not thoroughly and properly such, without having gone through the education of one of these houses.The spelling has been modernized.

1712 January 15 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, January 4, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 266; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, page 329

Nancy Basset, 28, likely wench, mulattoProved to be free.Certified free as per General Birch Certificate.Patience Jackson, 23, very likely wench, mulattoSays she was born free Rhode Island.Certified free as per General Birch Certificate.

1776–1787, Carmelita Robertson, Elizabeth E. D. Eve, Black Loyalists of Nova Scotia: Tracing the History of Tracadie Loyalists, 1776–87 (Curatorial Report; no. 91), Halifax, N.S.: History Section, Nova Scotia Museum, Department of Tourism & Culture, published 2000

Now, I bought a gal once, when I was in the trade,—a tight, likely wench she was, too, and quite considerable smart— [...]

1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “[Eliza’s Escape]”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, page 100

A colored girl […] was fined ten dollars in the Freedman's Court yesterday, for being drunk and disorderly. Not having the money in her possession, she requested that a guard be sent with her to her residence to procure it. The Provost allowed a guard to wait on the wench, who, as soon as she found herself inside of her own door, locked it, and left the poor guard outside without the money. He returned to court without either the wench or fine.

1866 March 2, “Sharp Wench”, in The Appeal, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Minn.: Parker, Burgett & Hardy, page 3; quoted in Hannah Rosen, “Notes”, in Terror in the Heart of Freedom: Citizenship, Sexual Violence, and the Meaning of Race in the Postemancipation South (Gender and American Culture), Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2009, footnote 186, page 282

So complete was this illusion, claims [Eric] Lott, that many audience members, including Mark Twain's mother, believed they were seeing authentic, biologically black performers on New York stages. Of course, wench characters seem to especially test the bounds of authentic performance. Played by men, wenches were nonetheless read by audiences as beautiful women: [...] [E]xtant photographs and engravings of wench performers do not always represent them as blacked up, […] In antebellum minstrel shows, wench songs were most often sung about mulatto women rather than by them.

2014, Kirsten Pullen, “Light Egyptian: Lena Horne and the Representation of Black Femininity”, in Like a Natural Woman: Spectacular Female Performance in Classical Hollywood, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, pages 106–107

This is ſure ſome hide-bound ſtudent, that proportions his expence by his penſion; and wencheth at Tottenham court for ſtewed prunes and cheeſcakes.

1638, Thomas Nabbes, The Bride, a Comedie. […], London: Printed by R[ichard] H[odgkinson] for Laurence Blaikelocke […], published 1640; republished in Playes, Maskes, Epigrams, Elegies, and Epithalamiums. […], London: Printed by I. Dawson, […], 1639, Act II, scene iv

He [a man under the influence of the planet Mars] hath a marke or ſcar in his face, is broad-ſhouldered, a ſturdy ſtrong body, being bold and proud, given to mocke, ſcorne, quarrell, drinke, game and wench: which you may eaſily know by the Signe he is in; if in the houſe of ♀ he wencheth, if in ☿s he ſteals, [...]

1647, William Lilly, “Another Briefe Description of the Shapes and Formes of the Planets”, in Christian Astrology Modestly Treated of in Three Books. […], London: Printed by Tho[mas] Brudenell for John Partridge and Humph[rey] Blunden, […], page 85

In ſhort, Ned has drank, wenched, fought, and beggared himſelf, through an exalted ſolicitude for the general emolument, and is now cloſe pent up in one of our priſons, out of a pure and diſintereſted regard for the welfare of ſociety.

1767, [Hugh Kelly], “Saturday, May 1”, in The Babler. Containing a Careful Selection from those Entertaining and Interesting Essays, which have Given the Public so much Satisfaction under that Title during a Course of Four Years, in Owen’s Weekly Chronicle, volume II, number LXVI, London: Printed for J[ohn] Newbery, […]; L. Hawes, W. Clarke, and R. Collins, […]; and J. Harrison, […]

I know a clergyman who, having enjoyed for several years the world's good opinion, was turned off, through a ridiculous pique, by a young nobleman to whom he was preceptor. […] He drank, wenched, and was so complete a gambler, that, had he kept his old situation much longer, he would have ruined the principles of his pupil.

1807 March, [Charles] Dibdin, “Dibdin’s Tour. [Letter 1 … Introductory.]”, in The Polyanthos, volume IV, Boston, Mass.: Published by J[oseph] T[inker] Buckingham, […], footnote, page 247

This Dalgarno does not drink so much, or swear so much, as his father; but he wenches, Geordie, and he breaks his word and oath baith.

1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., page 231

Bundy's reasons for leaving the Cape are obscure. He drinks, but that doesn't dim his powers. He wenches. But so do we all.

1972, Philip K[indred] Dick, chapter 1, in We Can Build You (DAW SF Books; no. 14), New York, N.Y.: DAW Books; republished London: HarperVoyager, HarperCollins, 2008, page 11

Already, you see, I had begun to acquire a taste for rakery and wenching among the London debutantes.

1979 October, Roald Dahl, chapter 1, in My Uncle Oswald, London: Michael Joseph; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2011,