wench
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /wɛnt͡ʃ/
rhymes: -ɛntʃ
Forms: form: wenches
form: wenching
form: wenched
form: wenched
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: wench
form: wench
form: wenched
form: wench
form: wenchest
form: wenched
form: wenchedst
form: wenches
form: wencheth
form: wenched
form: wench
form: wenched
form: wench
form: wenched
form: wench
form: -
form: wenching
form: wenched
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English wench, wenche (“female baby; girl (especially unmarried); maiden, young woman; bondwoman; serving maid; beloved, sweetheart; concubine, mistress; harlot, prostitute”) [and other forms], a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wenċel, winċel (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankilą, from Proto-Germanic *wankijaną (“to sway; waver”). The English word is cognate with Old High German wenken (“to waver; to give way, yield”), wankōn (“to totter”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: This is ſure ſome hide-bound ſtudent, that proportions his expence by his penſion; and wencheth at Tottenham court for ſtewed prunes and cheeſcakes.
ref: 1638, Thomas Nabbes, The Bride, a Comedie. […], London: Printed by R[ichard] H[odgkinson] for Laurence Blaikelocke […], published 1640, →OCLC; republished in Playes, Maskes, Epigrams, Elegies, and Epithalamiums. […], London: Printed by I. Dawson, […], 1639, →OCLC, Act II, scene iv:
text: 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, [...]
ref: 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, […], →OCLC, page 85:
text: 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.
ref: 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, […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1807 March, [Charles] Dibdin, “Dibdin’s Tour. [Letter 1 … Introductory.]”, in The Polyanthos, volume IV, Boston, Mass.: Published by J[oseph] T[inker] Buckingham, […], →OCLC, footnote, page 247:
text: 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.
ref: 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., →OCLC, page 231:
text: 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.
ref: 1972, Philip K[indred] Dick, chapter 1, in We Can Build You (DAW SF Books; no. 14), New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperVoyager, HarperCollins, 2008, →ISBN, page 11:
text: Already, you see, I had begun to acquire a taste for rakery and wenching among the London debutantes.
ref: 1979 October, Roald Dahl, chapter 1, in My Uncle Oswald, London: Michael Joseph, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2011, →ISBN:
glosses: To frequent prostitutes; to whore; also, to womanize.
examples: text: λαικάζω, to wench
ref: 1852, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Greek-English Lexicon, page 824:
glosses: To act as a wench.
Derived terms: wencher