welfare queen

English

Noun

welfare queen (plural welfare queens)

1. (US, derogatory) A woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need.
   • 1994, Lisa Jones, Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex, and Hair, Anchor Books (1995), →ISBN, page 118-119:

     Martin isn't a typecast welfare queen sucking the nation dry, as Thomas seemed to suggest, but a single woman like his own mother, who worked low-paying jobs without benefits to support her family and turned to relatives for help.

   • 1994, Marian Wright Edelman, Measure of Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, Beacon Press (1994), →ISBN, page 113:

     Welfare queens can't hold a candle to corporate kings in raiding the public purse.

   • 2008, Earl Sewell, If I Were Your Boyfriend, Kimani TRU (2008), →ISBN, page 125:

     […] You need to go on back to the ghetto and make a bunch of ghetto babies and live off of welfare. I heard that you and your mama were welfare queens.”

See also

• welfare bum
• welfare parasite