Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A woman considered to be brazen or promiscuous.
  • noun A saucy or impudent girl or young woman.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A case for scissors, needles, thread, etc. Also housewife, hussif.
  • noun The mistress of the house: same as housewife.
  • noun A pert, wilful woman or girl; a frolicsome or mischievous girl; a quean; a jade; a wench: used either in reproach or jocosely.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A housewife or housekeeper.
  • noun A worthless woman or girl; a forward wench; a jade; -- used as a term of contempt or reproach.
  • noun A pert girl; a frolicsome or sportive young woman; -- used jocosely.
  • noun A case or bag. See housewife, 2.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A housewife or housekeeper.
  • noun A cheeky or disrespectful girl; a worthless woman, a woman showing inappropriate or improper behaviour.
  • noun obsolete A case or bag for needles, thread, etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a woman adulterer

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of Middle English houswif, housewife; see housewife.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A compression of housewife.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hussy.

Examples

  • He muttered a period in which the term hussy was solely audible.

    The Three Black Pennys A Novel Joseph Hergesheimer 1917

  • I'm to be called a hussy, am I, after working my knuckles off for you, and slaving for thirty years after your crooked carcass?

    They All Do It; or, Mr. Miggs of Danbury and his Neighbors Being a Faithful Record of What Befell the Miggses on Several Important Occasions ... 1877

  • Gervaise, who accused her of doing it to enrage them, set herself above the scandal; she might meet her daughter on the street, she said; she wouldn't even dirty her hand to cuff her; yes, it was all over; she might have seen her lying in the gutter, dying on the pavement, and she would have passed by without even admitting that such a hussy was her own child.

    L'Assommoir ��mile Zola 1871

  • 'Celebrity Apprentice' recap: The tale of the class act and the 'hussy' - L.A. Now 03/21/2011, 8:02 a.m.

    latimes.com - News 2011

  • People here love to gossip and boys brag and soon you are that American "hussy" just like in the movies.

    Archive 2006-02-01 Maya Chalee 2006

  • People here love to gossip and boys brag and soon you are that American "hussy" just like in the movies.

    Love is in the air... Maya Chalee 2006

  • "If he calls her 'hussy' again I shall thrash him afterwards."

    Dame Care Hermann Sudermann 1892

  • And then she proceeded to purchase some big fish -- a turbot or a salmon -- of a neighbouring dealer, spreading her money out on the marble slab as she did so, for she had noticed that this seemed to have a painful effect upon the "hussy," who ceased laughing at the sight.

    The Fat and the Thin ��mile Zola 1871

  • As soon as she was recognized the respectable matrons of the party began to whisper among themselves, and the words "hussy" and "public scandal" were uttered so loudly that Boule de Suif raised her head.

    Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant Guy de Maupassant 1871

  • As soon as she was recognized the respectable matrons of the party began to whisper among themselves, and the words "hussy" and "public scandal" were uttered so loudly that Boule de Suif raised her head.

    Original Short Stories — Volume 01 Guy de Maupassant 1871

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • For some reason girls don't like it when I use this term to describe them...

    February 9, 2007

  • This word is actually a reduction of housewife.

    February 27, 2007

  • Most hussies are wanton in my experience.

    May 7, 2007

  • Better to be a bored housewife or a wanton hussy?

    June 17, 2007

  • Brazen hussy was the way I always heard it.

    June 17, 2007

  • Now a woman who'll kiss on a very 1st date,

    Is usually a hussy,

    And a woman who'll kiss on the second time out,

    Is anything but fussy,

    But a woman who'll wait 'till the 3rd time around,

    Head in the clouds, feet on the ground,

    She's the girl he's glad he's found,

    She's his Shipoopi.

    "Shipoopi" from The Music Man

    June 17, 2007

  • This word was chosen as Wordnik word of the day.

    November 11, 2009

  • Eddie called Jessica Rabbit this when Dolores caught him kissing her.

    July 29, 2012