Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a mistress, a sexually pleasing woman, any woman with sexual overtones.

1303		R. Brunne Handl. Synne (1901) 7980: And shame hyt ys euer aywhare To be kalled ‘a prestës mare’ .
c.1495		Skelton Dyvers Balettys and Dyties Solacyous ii line 21: He rydyth well the horse, but he rydyth better the mare.
1552		G. Walker Detection of Vyle and Detestable Use of Dice Play 35: This mother baud undertook to serve his turn [...] having at home a well-painted, mannerly harlot, as good a maid as Fletcher’s mare.
1594		Gesta Grayorum in J. Nichols Progresses and Processions of Queen Elizabeth (1823) III 327: John the pander claimes to hold [...] two tenements called the Cunyborrowes, lyinge in Stinke Court, by townage in capita, to finde three Flanders mares yearly, for sixe of his Highnes Black Guard, to ride uppon any Requiem.
1595		Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream III ii: Jack shall have Jill; Nought shall go ill; The man shall have his mare again.
1606		J. Day Ile of Guls IV i: mis.: Manasses wife? [...] Gods my precious, Ile slit her nose, as I am a Lady will I; is she the party you wot on? dor.: Yes faith Madam, shee is the Mare the man rid on.
c.1617		Fletcher Chances III iv: Why, the Man has his Mare again, and all’s well.
1654		Mercurius Fumigosus 10 2 Aug. 93: The Night-Mare being taken napping the other Night as she was going into Maggy-land.
1730		J. Gay Wife of Bath (rev. edn) I ix: The man hath his mare again.
c.1800		‘The Frolicsome Spark’ No. 31 Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: Why blast you I’ll soon make you sweat, you bawdy-house keeping old mare.
1835		‘Rampant Moll Was A Rum Old Mot’ in Secret Songster 5: He gazed on her plump, and thought from her rump, / Vhat an out-and-out mare vos she.

2. the female genitals.

1833

‘Stroking a Mare’ in Funny Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 59: And as you’ve spoke so kind and fair, / I’ll thank you, sir, to stroke my lazy mare.

3. an ill-tempered, unpleasant or spirited woman.

1846		Bell’s Life in Sydney 19 Sept. 32: Williams shouted there’s the big mare come home [...] In her defence Spencer said the ‘mare’ was big enough to eat her.
1846		Gleaner (Manchester, NH) 10 Jan. n.p.: Strafford Centre Wants to Know who is a greater nuisance than old Webster’s mare? [...] When is she to have another new dress.
1913		C. Mackenzie Sinister Street II 1113: Where the hell is that watch? [...] If that mare took it!
1922		Joyce Ulysses 225: The lad stood to attention anyhow, he said with a sigh. She’s a gamey mare and no mistake.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 284: Saucy mare, he thought. Can’t even be civil to a bloke when he’s in trouble.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 115: ‘Parlour me hind legs,’ old Henry yells. ‘How many times you got to be told, Dowager? The drawing room, you soppy old mare.’.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 201: Grudgingly, she found herself listening in the same way as that mare Valerie.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 192: Mare Unpleasant and bad-tempered woman. ‘Bitch’ connotes contrariness in addition to slight bad temper; ‘cow’ the next degree of unpleasantness ‘Mare’ is easily the worst and most insulting.
1981		N. Farki Countryman Karl Black 85: Legs wide apart. [...] Oooh! A black stallion, a white mare.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 28: Vicky was in touch with Selby although she denied it, lying little mare that she was.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 95: Saucy mare, her! And cheeky little cunt, too!
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 163: [of a man] The nervy mare wanted nanti further part in proceedings.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 313: [L]eading the treacherous mares upways.

4. an ugly woman.

1934		J. Franklyn This Gutter Life 149: Don’t you call my bloke boss-eyed – you poxy mare!
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 80: Christ, I know I’d had a couple or so drinks last night, but I must have been a bloody sight drunker that I thought to have picked up with an old mare like you.

5. a woman, without pej. overtones.

1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 181: The old mares holdin’ theirselves up by the bar-rail at 4 a.m. cadgin’ drinks.
1963		B. Hecht Gaily, Gaily 93: The jam of bosom-bouncing mares and feet-twirling stallions had thinned out.
1974		D. Goines Daddy Cool (1997) 76: What did I tell you, Tony? Ain’t she a fine young mare?
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 25: There’s not much else about the snotty little mare I’ll miss.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 27: My Old Mare was [...] brutishly frank about the multi lovers she charvered.