Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) a short iron bar, used to break open doors, force locks etc; the predecessor of the 19C jemmy n.³ (1)

1648		Dekker Canters Dict. Eng. Villainies (9th edn).
1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 47: Betty, an instrument to break a door.
1676		A Newgate ex-prisoner A Warning for House-Keepers 3: They have an instrument made about half a yard long [...] which they call a Betty, which being chopt under a door, with a little help, it will make it fly off the hinges.
1695		Proc. Old Bailey 20 Feb. n.p.: There was an Iron Betty found in the Prisoners house, which was lost by a Butcher, which the Thieves call an Embroidering Needle.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Betty, c. a small Engin to force open the Doors of Houses.
1705–07		N. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II:9 7: So Ruffians, who, with Crows and Betties, / Break Houses, when it dark and late is.
1714		A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 242: They have their Tinder-Boxes, Matches, Flints, Steel, Dark-Lanthorns, Bags, Cords, Betties, and Chisels.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: betty or bess a small Engine to force open the Doors of Houses; Mill the Gig with your Betty; i.e. Break open the Door with your Instrument.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict.
1768		(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle ii in Groom (1999) xxix: A Bess or Betty A small Iron Crow.
1777		J. Fielding Thieving Detected 27: A Sneak can, with the help of his Betty (an instrument turned up at one end like a hook) open almost any lock in England.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1854		Bell’s Life in Sydney 27 May 3/1: Flinn, who was last week convicted of being found with skeleton keys and a Betty in his possession.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 11: ‘Long tackling’ means a ‘stick’ and a ‘betty,’ or, in plain words, a small crowbar with a wooden handle.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 313/1: betty, [...] instrument pour forcer les portes.
1881		Newcastle Courant 9 Sept. 6/5: The detectives having withdrawn the bolt ‘struck’ the lock with a Betty.
1898		Belfast News-Letter 11 Apr. 6/5: ‘Betty’ was the old name for that favourite tool of the burglar which in these latter days has changed its name and become a ‘jemmy’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

2. a small flask, used to hold wine.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Betty [...] a quarter Flask of Wine.
1700		T. Brown Amusements Serious and Comical in Works (1744) III 112: My pretty rogue, shan’t we have a betty of wine?
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 316/2: lush betty, Whisky bottle.

3. a skeleton key, a picklock.

1728		Defoe Street Robberies Considered 30: Betty, a Picklock.
1781		G. Parker View of Society II 149: A woman [...] dressed like a servant-maid, with a cream-pot in one hand, and Betty in the other; and a number of young Dubs hanging by her side.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 227: betty: picklock; to unbetty, or betty a lock, to open or relock it, by means of the betty, so as to avoid subsequent detection.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 10: Betty, or Bess — a crooked nail to open locks. Several sizes are carried by cracksmen: they are bent first and hardened afterwards.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Betty a little tools [sic] for opening locks.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor (1968) IV 339: Expert burglars [...] have a jemmy, a cutter, a dozen of betties, better known as picklocks.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 93/1: There were ‘neddies,’ ‘jemmies,’ ‘glims,’ ‘centre bits,’ ‘betties,’ ‘screws,’ cutlers and tapers in large numbers.
1869		Australiasian (Melbourne) 17 July 8/5: A skeleton key is a betty .
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 1: Betty - Skeleton key, or picklock.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 8: Betty, a skeleton key [...] Betty, Betsy, pick-locks.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 31/2: Bitties [sic] (Thieves’) Evasive term for skeleton-keys.

4. implying effeminacy [note Scot./US dial. jenny(-woman) a man who meddles in or assists in a woman’s housework; and 17C Bettyland, esp. in pamphlet Erotopolis, The Present State of Betty-Land, in which the term stands for i) the female body, ii) the lowlife areas of London and iii) human sexuality; in it one finds ‘Rutland’ and the great city of ‘Pego’, the ‘centre of the whole (i.e. hole n.¹ (1b) = vagina) Empire’].

5. (US, Southern) a cowhide whip.

1858

E.A. Pollard Black Diamonds 24: Now, Caesar one day had caught it, not from Brutus, but from Betty — an allegorical coquette in the shape of a red cowhide.

6. a chamberpot.

1912

in DARE.

7. (Irish) a fireguard.

1979

M. O’Beirne Mister, A Dublin Childhood n.p.: We had a high-barred fire with a betty round it [BS].

8. a schoolteacher.

1967

in DARE.

9. (US campus) a pretty young woman [underpinned by character ‘Betty’ in TV cartoon The Flintstones].

1971		Current Sl. VI 1: Betty A, n. A girl with large breasts.
1989		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 3: fly betty – a girl who dresses fashionably.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 35: The girl in Abnormal Psychology is a definite betty.
1995		A. Heckerling Clueless [film script] Wasn’t my mom a betty? She died when I was just a baby. A fluke accident during a routine liposuction.
2002		Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 betty n. an old school term for a girl/lady ‘Man, look at that fine looking Betty’.
2010		Thankyou Mag. May. [online] Not only is she one of pop culture’s most accomplished ‘voices’, she’s a total Betty to boot.