demirep
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From demi- + reputation.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
demirep (plural demireps)
- (colloquial, dated) A woman of doubtful reputation or suspected character; an adventuress.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 569,
- he had no knowledge of that character which is vulgarly called a demirep; that is to say, a woman who intrigues with every man she likes, under the name and appearance of virtue [...] in short, whom everybody knows to be what nobody calls her.
- 1813, Leigh Hunt, in a journal article about the prince.(Chambers, R.. "'The Book of Days': A miscellany of popular antiquities. Londres: W & R Chambers, 1832." Google Books).
- […] in short, this delightful, blissful, wise, pleasurable, honourable, virtuous, true, and immortal prince, was a violator of his word, a libertine, over head and ears in disgrace, a despiser of domestic ties, the companion of gamblers and demireps: […]
- 1822, Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater,
- […] the greater part of our confessions (that is, spontaneous and extra-judicial confessions) proceed from demireps, adventurers, or swindlers: […]
- 1904, Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol,
- With the mincing step of a demirep / Some sidled up the stairs: […]
- 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 569,
[edit] References
- demirep in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
