Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a promiscuous woman; a prostitute.

c.1597		Shakespeare Henry IV Pt 2 II ii: Even such kin as the parish heifers are to the town bull.
1622		Fletcher Spanish Curate Ii iii: ars.: And all our Wishes plough with his fine white Heifer. jam.: Mark him, my dear Friend, for a famous Cuckold.
1632		Massinger City-Madam II iii: I will undertake To find the North-passage to the Indies sooner, Then plough with your proud Heifer.
1722		S. Centlivre Artifice Act IV: What shall I do with this Heifer and her Calf now!
c.1790		‘Larry’s Stiff’ Luke Caffrey’s Gost 8: Bill got a blow in de gullet; / Den de heffers began to huzza!
1840		Morn. Post (London) 7 Nov. 3/5: Them old, forrerd, impudent heifers.
1850		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 10 Aug. n.p.: I saw two young heifers belonging to this den [i.e. a ‘cat house’].
1866		H.L. Williams N.-Y. After Dark 37: You don’t ’spose I’d spend a Fessender Five on any other girl, if she was the prettiest heifer as ever stepped from Madison Square to the Battery.
1908		D.G. Phillips Susan Lenox II 135: You ain’t on the same level as the rest of these heifers.
1935		(con. late 1920s) L. Hughes Little Ham Act II: Take your hands off that man, you heifer [...] Yes, you’s a heifer! No other she-varmint’d try to take a woman’s man away from her right under her very nose.
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 748: I don’t reckon you told that heifer to come racking up here.
1952		L. Hughes Laughing to Keep from Crying 72: Take your old hinkty heifer out o’ here where she belong.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 302: That was good for that old heifer, that old no-good whorish hussy.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
2008		G. Pelecanos Way Home (2009) 262: We paid that little heifer to fuck you, son.

2. (also heffa) a woman, a girl.

c.1785		‘The New Dhooraling’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 401: Tho’ she mumbled her meat with a horn spoon, / Yet this merry going heifer she liked the tune / / Altho decripid blind and lame / she longed for a touch of the sporting game.
1835		A.B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes (1848) 56: You sassy heifer you.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 97: I feel kinder sorry too, says he, for that young heifer.
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 18 Mar. 2/3: Your heifer’s sole inclination / is not after such titlation.
1845		Bolton Chron. 7 June 4/2: [of NZ] A chief was called a ‘nob,’ a slave, a ‘doctor,’ a woman, a ‘heifer,’ a girl, a ‘titter,’ a child, a ‘squeaker’.
1850		‘Ned Buntline’ G’hals of N.Y. 19: I’ll be ridin’ out on the avenue, with my green coat and red neckercher, and a nice little heifer by my side, as gallus as all around.
1863		Criminal Life (NY) 19 Dec. n.p.: Away, thou dirty heifer, to the foulest corner of Barren Island.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 27/1: The blasted little Jew heifer ‘namased’ with my fine ‘fawney’.
1872		‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It 28: I reckon I’m a pretty sociable heifer after all.
1893		L. Chittenden ‘The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball’ Ranch Verses 15: Lock horns ter all them heifers, an’ russle ’em like men. / Saloot yer lovely critters; neow swing an’ let ’em go.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 37: I’ll break y’in ’arves, ye blasted ’eifer!
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Aug. Red Page/1: Uz fur the nights, there’s allez whips o’ fun / In ’ops wif righto heifers ut yer wing.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 379: A skittish heifer, big of her age and beef to the heel.
1928		N.I. White Amer. Negro Folk-Songs 329: [reported from Durham, N.C., 1919] If my wife comes home wid whiskey on her breath, / I’ll pick up a stick and beat dat heifer to death.
1934		H. Roth Call It Sleep (1977) 305: Esther! Polly! Will you get up! [...] Quick, stinking heifers, you hear me!
1942		Z.N. Hurston Dust Tracks On a Road (1995) 607: Why dat lil’ heifer is lying just as fast as a horse can trot. Stop her!
1954		(con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 5: Damn I reckin — Thassa fiery little nigger heffer.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 51: Oh Heifer, save thet breath.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 118: We have [...] fourteen different ways of describing a red-haired heifer.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 79: Dat heifer do it again, I’ma kick her ass!
1985		B. Robinson Aussie Bull 9: When [...] a well built young girl walked past, he would nudge me and remark, ‘Nice young heifer there boy, eh!’ .
1996		H. Roth From Bondage 120: The only relief he got: maneuver the fat little heifer into a half-minute of perilous privacy.
2005		G. Pelecanos Drama City 108: Cause you know that fat-ass heifer do like to eat.
2019		S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] ‘Your only FBI contact — that little blonde heifer — done been kicked to the curb’.

3. (later US black) an unattractive, obese woman.

1943		‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Faustus Kelly in ‘Flann O’Brien’ Stories & Plays (1973) 142: He married a grand big heifer of a woman.
1962		(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 292: Buck Rogers came over to Solly’s bunk [...] He said ‘Move over, baby, I’m going to sleep with you tonight, you beautiful heffer.’.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 144: The heavy woman is also likened to certain animals, cow and heifer.
1995		A. Heckerling Clueless [film script] I know what you mean, but at least it’s exercise. I feel like such a heffer. I had two bowls of special K, three pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, five peanut butter M&M’s, and like, three pieces of licorice.
2001		G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Heifer (n): an ugly country woman (the consensus being that she looks like a cow).

4. (US black) an immoral woman, esp. one who chooses to defy the current moral codes.

2000

P. Beatty Tuff 76: ‘I am taking into account the size of your brain, bitch.’ ‘Heifer.’ ‘Ho, ad infinitum.’.