Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a woman, usu. one who is young and attractive; also occas. of a baby.

1855		Pippins and Pies 9: I have four of them, sir; and I don’t wish to boast, but this I’m bound to say—that four sweeter lovelier popsies, never blessed—.
1880		Liverpool Mail 5 Sept. 6/5: ‘Nunc,’ said Popsy, still lingering..
1900		Punch 24 Jan. 68: Mrs Newlywed: ‘And tell me – what is my popsy’s little wife to him?’.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Aug. 9/3: It’s fine to lounge in velvet seats / With Popsy at our side, / And see just how the lion eats / Young Caesar’s weeping bride.
1940		‘Ops in a Wimpey’ in C.H. Ward-Jackson Airman’s Song Book (1945) 118: I’ve got a date with my popsee.
1947		D. Davin For the Rest of Our Lives 141: There’ll be plenty of booze [...] people, popsies, poets.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 210: The popsy’s bound to be a real knock-out.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 204: Well, your popsy’s not here, sport.
1961		S. Aus. Ski Club Song Bk 3: If you climb up with a popsie to some sheer and dizzy height / [...] / Take a outsize sleeping bag.
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 15: Having gone and got hitched up with a popsy.
1989		(con. 1968) P. Theroux My Secret Hist. (1990) 335: Where’s that poppsie of yours, Andrew?
1999		J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] Bit of a high class popsy, I heard you was a hostess.
2000		Indep. on Sun. 13 Feb. 26: These are the popsies who pop my cork!
2016		Sun. Times 6 Nov. 🌐 One black businesswoman, an acquaintance, was unforgiving: ‘These bruvs are smart. They know the white popsy is the passport to the top’.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 237: I was offering these poor exploited popsies free bed and board.