Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. UK Und.) a generic term for a woman.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 247: judy a blowen, but sometimes used when speaking familiarly of any woman.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1833		‘Will You Come To My Crib?’ in Funny Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 42: Will you come to my crib? — let your Judy implore.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 331: A small affection I have certainly for Judy Mot – but my rale passion is the muses.
1847		Bell’s Life in Sydney 30 Jan. 3/5: There were plenty Judy’s there, but none like you.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 37/1: With the exception of one, all the ‘flats’ in the room marched minus a Judy to the parlor.
1874		W.E. Henley Unpublished Ballad n.p.: Then I downs my bleeding Judy, And puts a new head on her [F&H].
1888		J. Runciman Chequers 80: There ain’t a bloke round here as has a judy wot’ll go where I goes and hand over the wongur.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 3 Feb. 3/6: ’E’s got a reglar slap-up donah, too — an A1 judy.
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 249: She prided herself on being a fighting woman, as do a great many of the English Judies.
1919		Ogden Standard (UT) 2 May 9/3: The girls are known as ‘calicos, judies and jellybeans’.
1926		S. O’Casey Plough and the Stars Act I: She’s a pretty little Judy, all the same.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 20: Judies like her had a good time.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 3: He is in love with Miss Dawn Astra, a very beautiful young Judy.
1950		T. Hopkinson ‘The Matelot and the Piece of Cake‘ in Penguin New Writing 39 53: I picked the judies up in Aberdeen [...] Not floosies, chum, Real girls.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 148: My Judy’s ’aving a nipper.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 104: How’d you be playing around with dirty dishes, waitressing, you know, like these judies here?
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 24: Oh no. One of them bring your own judy dos.
1972		A. Mitchell Half-gallon Quarter-acre Pavlova Paradise 183: Judy: Naughty sister of Sheila.
1984		Flame : a Life on the Game 34: ‘You talk like a judy, doncha?’ said one of them. Judy is scouse for a girl.
1995		M. Simpson ‘Prufrock Scoused’ Catching Up with Hist. 21: Ders diss posh do wid lah-di-dah judies.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 6: He’s a bit of a cad with the judies, bit of a rake and that.

2. (orig. UK Und.) a promiscuous woman or prostitute.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1856		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 25 Oct. n.p.: I would advise Thomas J — n not to go down town so often to see that little Irish Judy, Mary A. K—y, or he will get himself in the Life .
c.1880		list of US Army Sl. 1870s–1880s [compiled by R. Bunting, San Diego CA, 2001] Judy A prostitute.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 16 Mar. 3/6: His reverence (to confessing penitent, who has Just accused himself of getting drunk and visiting a gay house [...] There ye are, me bhoy! I gin’rally notice that whinever ye have yore punch ye must have yere Judy.
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 45: They picked up a couple of judies who were attracted by their soldierly bearing, and lived caseo with them.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 83: Judy – a prostitute.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 348: [H]e’s a pimp... psychopimp... set fire to one of his judies’ hair.

3. (orig. UK Und.) a girlfriend, or wife.

1830		Mr Mathews’ Comic Annual 15: M’Cormac was mourn’d by his left behind Judy, / Who sat piping her eye wid an old broken dudee.
1841		‘I Came From The Roar’ Dublin Comic Songster 65: If you maintain Judy at home on the plain.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 5/1: One of the ‘guns’ [...] not noticing his ‘judy,’ where he had left her at coming in among the other ‘picking-up molls,’ took a ‘granny’ at one of the private ‘lush’ boxes.
1888		J. Runciman Chequers 80: I done the best as I knew for you, and there ain’t a bloke around as has a judy [F&H].
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 241: I turned to listen to a very domestic confab between a Judy and her mate.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 125: The address you’ve just told me is my judy’s gaff.
1959		‘Screwsman’s Lament’ in Encounter n.d. in Norman Norman’s London (1969) 67: We call around for Kate the Clock, that’s Drummer’s little Judy, / In case of a stoppo, she can bung them all the moody.
1975		A. Bleasdale Scully 85: The feller what poisoned his judy years ago, and legged it to America.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 96: Billy Smith screwed Tesco’s last week, and the cigarettes are under the bed in his judy’s house.
2003		(con. 1934) W. Woodruff Beyond Nab End 79: He was the only one who had a regular ‘Judy’.

4. a ludicrous-looking woman.

1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 630: C.20.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 251: Judy, often denoting a foolish, stupid, or ridiculous woman.

5. (Aus.) a feminine lesbian.

1967

‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxv 6/3: judy: A feminine lesbian.

6. (US campus) a fat woman.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1997		K. Kainulainen ‘University Euphemisms in Calif. Today’ 🌐 Names can be used as euphemisms too. ‘Bertha’ and ‘judy’ are both used to describe overweight girls.