Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also doll common) a prostitute.

1560		Nice Wanton Aiiii: He hath whores two or three, But ich tell your minion doll, by gogs body: It skylleth not she doth holde you as muche.
1594		Gesta Grayorum in J. Nichols Progresses and Processions of Queen Elizabeth (1823) III 335: If lusty Doll, mayde of the dary / Chance to be blew-nipte by the Fayry, / For making butter with her tayle; / I’le give her that did never fayle.
1600		Munday & Drayton Sir John Oldcastle I ii: I haue my Doll, my concubine as ’twere, To frollicke with, a lusty bounsing gerle.
1608		Yorkshire Tragedy I i: He calls his wife ‘whore’ as familiarly as one would call Moll and Doll.
1613		Middleton Chaste Maid in Cheapside II ii: This Lent will fat the whoresons up with sweetbreads / And lard their whores with lamb-stones; what their golls / Can clutch goes presently to their Molls and Dolls.
1648		R. Herrick ‘Upon Doll’ Hesperides 165: Doll she so soone began the wanton trade; / She ne’r remembers that she was a maide.
1654		T. Killigrew Thomaso Pt II IV i: I would not have a tearing, ranting Whore, no Doll Common, no Tear-sheet.
a.1660		Captive Lady IV v: That I shou’d be such a child to play with a Bartholmew babye, and att last be forc’d to goe to Doll, or loane for Milke for my supper.
1675		‘Inamorato & Misogamos’ in Ebsworth Bagford Ballads (1878) II 893: The dirty Doll’s and Jumping Jugg’s, / Their hunches, nips, and Cornish Huggs.
1678		S. Butler Hudibras Pt III canto 2 line 476: As loose and Rampant as Dol Common.
1680		Merry Maid of Islington 3: I am not the Blades Intelligencer, whether Doll and Moll remove their lodging to escape the Constable.
1683		Otway Atheist Act V: Filthy, filthy; fulsom, filthy! What, be a Doll-Common, follow the Camp!
1733		‘A Satire on the Times’ Lover’s Pacquet 16: Here compass’d round with Dolls of Air and Pride, He takes by Turns, each willling Maid aside.
1759		Oxford Jrnl 24 Feb. 1/1: So lost to Sense of Shame and Duty, / Doll came to Town to sell her Beauty. / [...] / The forlorn Wretch would walk the Strand / [...] / A Pot of Beer would buy Doll Common.
1771		Kentish Gaz. 27 Aug. 2/1: These fine squeamish Madams [...] fall to the course dish with as good an appetite as any Doll Common .
1853		H.D. Eastman Fast Man’s Directory 9: Mille Rosalee is a perfect doll.
1865		Worcs. Chron. 31 May 4/1: She is only a Mauretanian Doll Common.
1869		Manchester Courier 6 Jan. 6/1: Moll Flagon and Doll Common from Ratcliffe-highway, in coarse but not uncleanly attire.
1898		W. Besant Orange Girl I 56: It is a place for sailors and their Dolls.
1909		C.B. Chrysler White Slavery 176: The Slaver [...] don’t care for the ‘cheap floosies;’ he is out after a ‘doll’ that he can get $300 for.
1939		D. Maurer ‘Prostitutes & Criminal Argots’ in Lang. Und. (1981) 117/1: bladder. An unattractive prostitute. Also [...] doll, [...] each expressing varying degrees of unattractiveness.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 61: This colored man, real nice guy who treated us good, gets Lock a doll.
a.1964		‘Sugar Hill’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 93: I met a whore named Tina, a foxy kind of doll.
1964		‘Charles Barrett’ Address: Kings Cross 102: [W]hen the evening was over, he always chose a doll to take home with him. Rumour also whispered that, sometimes, he wanted the doll just for company and to increase his hair-raising reputation as a Casanova.
1977		S. Stallone Paradise Alley (1978) 55: C’mon, Doll, whatta ya savin’ ya brownie for, the worms?
1978		D. Marechera House of Hunger (2013) [ebook] The eyebrow pencil seemed to have completed the transformation of my old Julia into a beer hall doll.

2. a woman.

1624		R. Davenport City-Night-Cap (1661) II 13: Farewell My chaste delitious Doll.
1660		‘A Dialogue betwixt Tom & Dick’ Rump Poems and Songs (1662) II 190: My Doll has sold her Wedding-ring, / And Sue has pawn’d her Coat.
1685		S. Wesley Maggots 155: There’s Doll: who knows what mischief follows?
1787		‘A Twiggle & a Friz’ Garland of New Songs 8: There’s the painted doll, and the powder’d fop.
1797		‘T.B. Jr’ Pettyfogger Dramatized II vi: What! vexed by a mere tiddy doll!
1804		T.G. Fessenden ‘Poetical Dialogue’ Poems 188: But sweet Miss Peggy, or Miss Pol, / Thou art a mighty pretty doll!
1825		C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I 415: Mr. Elliston never casts me any thing but the sentimental dolls and la la ladies.
1846		New Swell’s Night Guide to the Bowers of Venus 29: In this tenement soldiers and their dolls regale in max and backee.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 101: The insulting epithet of ‘doll’ was applied to every aged female.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor II 496/1: If it’s a lady and a gentleman, then we cries, ‘A toff and a doll!’.
1878		H.B. Stowe Poganuc People 304: She is [...] not one of the mere dolls that have no capability for anything but ribbons and laces.
1885		Isle of Wight Obs. 6 June 5/5: Now, what shall I do with those dolls? [...] An uglier couple I never did see. Awful bore.
1897		O. Wister Lin McLean 108: A cow-puncher and himself discussing a couple of dolls.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 6: You had only to take one peek at that old doll’s face.
1913		Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA) 27 July 8/5: [US speaker] ‘We like to kid the dolls along’.
1913–14		E. O’Neill The Web in Ten ‘Lost’ Plays (1995) 53: Who said I was chasin’ any dolls?
1919		H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 21: I then go over to see JEANNE, this here million dollar doll.
1929		D. Parker ‘Big Blonde’ Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 194: ‘Some dizzy blonde, eh?’ he would say. ‘Some doll.’.
1931		W. Noble Burns One-Way Ride 311: According to the public [...] If I happen to fall for a doll, and she has a sweetie, I shoot the sweetie and cop the frail.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 120: For men in a car [...] just waiting for a . . . doll.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 273: Some dowdy old doll with a double chin.
1950		S.J. Baker in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/5: Other English incorporations [in Australian slang] include: [...] ‘doll,’ a female.
1955		J.P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1958) 35: When I’m [...] sacked in with some lovely French doll.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 310: In Scotland, all the old dolls in the place would be talking.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Syndicate (1998) 29: He spoke to a doll with very long but shapely legs.
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 15: It so happens that some dolls I met up with in Brisbane will be getting to Sydney tomorrow.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 22: One night at the Copa [...] All the wise guys ’n dolls was jammed in.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 81: It’s hard to listen to stuff like that – especially in a phone box with a queue of oul’ dolls glarin’ in.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 269: Give me a taste. Come on, doll. Give me a taste.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 38: I’ll give the auld doll this: she always made a good nosh-up.
2004		I. Rankin Fleshmarket Close (2005) 56: ‘I like a doll with balls’.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 26: [Y]ou know the way ould dolls are, it’s all fucking crowdsourced.

3. (US) anything, or anyone, excellent, first-rate; also as adj.

1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker (1843) I 115: I raised a four year old colt once [...] a real daisy, a perfect doll.
1853		T. Haliburton Sam Slick’s Wise Saws I 125: Aint she a doll? [a ship].
1928		D. Lawley Hustling Hobo 254: [to a man] Oh! you beautiful doll, you great big-hic-beautiful doll. Some stage driver I guess. You bet I am!
1942		C.R. Bond 13 Feb. in A Flying Tiger’s Diary (1984) 99: Many had local girls. One was a real doll.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 55: He’s only six weeks old, but look how big he is. And strong! He’s already grabbing at things, and swinging his fists at you. Ain’t he a doll-dear?
1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 48: Have doll of a weekend.
1965		R.L. Pike Mute Witness (1997) 52: He’s a doll.
1970		J. Bouton Ball Four 330: The knuckleball was a doll. An easy one-hopper back to me, a pop fly to first base.
1982		Eble Campus Sl. Spring 3: doll – someone cute and adorable.
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 73: ‘You’re a doll, Les. Thanks’.
1992		R. Price Clockers 429: Victor – a doll, a gentleman and a doll.

4. (US) a conceited or self-satisfied person.

1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 294: The fellow from Government House is one of those flash dolls out from England who must have olives to eat.
1975		G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 58: doll n Female who has a high estimation of herself but whom others do not think highly of.

5. a conventionally attractive young woman; occas. used of (homosexual) young men.

1912		Bill Murray’s American Quartet [song title] Oh, You Beautiful Doll!
1913		C. Mackenzie Sinister Street I 167: Winnie with her grey eyes and ordinary hair [...] was certainly not comparable to this exquisite doll of his own.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 10 July 4/1: Mary S. looked a real doll Saturday night .
1920		F.S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise in Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald III (1960) 132: If a blonde girl doesn’t talk we call her a ‘doll’; if a light-haired man is silent he’s considered stupid.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 142: She was keeping a big masculine doll on my money.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Breach of Promise’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 15: He picks up much law business there, and sometimes a nice doll.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 153: She was a doll — no doubt about it.
1949		‘Swasarnt Nerf’ et al. Gay Girl’s Guide 8: doll: [...] a beautiful kid.
1949		‘Swasarnt Nerf’ Gaedicker’s Sodom-on-the-Hudson 9: Very few of these Museumiteas will be found to have much similarity to the above-mentioned dolls.
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 25: It was a woman, a doll, a sensational tomato who looked as if she’d just turned twenty-one.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch 166: [of boys] Oh you dolls, you great big beautiful dolls.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 45: She looked like one of the show girls you see in some of the magazines [...] a real doll.
1965		A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 79: As for those young husbands, they’re dolls. Sweet little things who got married too soon.
1972		E. Shrake Strange Peaches 245: ‘The President is a stud doll,’ one of the girls said.
1975		Sepe & Telano Cop Team 50: A shapely, good-looking doll of twenty-two years.
1979		Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 5: It was Darren Peters — the top surfing spunk of sixth form [...] ‘Oh Gord. What a doll’.
1981		S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 21: You’re a doll.
1988		M. Atwood Cat’s Eye (1989) 235: Cordelia says, ‘That Gregory! What a hunk,’ and I say, ‘Of cheese.’ Cordelia gives me a hurt look. ‘I think he’s a doll.’.
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 52: Why would a doll like you want to spend four years of your life in a dump like this?
1998		I. Welsh Filth 26: Fuckin doll, I hear a voice in my ear.
2003		K. Cage Gayle 66/2: doll n. 1. desirable man 2. term of endearment.

6. a general term of affection.

1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 255: It ain’t over yet, doll.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 31: ‘Of course, Doll, we all do [i.e. smoke marijuana].
1967		W. Manus Mott the Hoople 180: ‘What do you say, doll? Want to go upstairs?’ It was the B-girl, a big shtup of a blonde, sitting on my lap.
1970		T. Southern Blue Movie (1974) 17: You’re a ral doll, [...] but I think I’ll have to pass.
1978		Observer Mag. 14 May 13: The man at the table next to us called his girlfriend ‘doll’.
1983		A. Payne ‘Get Daley!’ Minder [TV script] 24: Thanks, doll.
1997		(con. 1950s) J. Byrne Slab Boys [film script] 10: No’ me, doll.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 106: Give us a smile then, doll. Tha looks raht miserubble.
2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 1: ‘You’re awake!’ ‘As never before, doll.’.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 80: Wit an absolute fuckin stunner she is [ibid.] 135: ‘We’ll need tae fight over him, won’t we Monica?’ ‘Aw we will that, doll! Wee stunner like Azzy’.

7. (US) a person, a man.

1961		F. Kohner Gidget Goes Hawaiian 30: As we drove up to the main building, out stepped this manager doll.
1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 31: And I thought my old man was a libertine. Compared to this doll, Dr. Gottfried Hofer was a hard-shell Ammanite.

8. (S.Afr.) a term of affection.

1996

CyberBraai Lex. at www.matriots.com 🌐 Doll: A term of affection between males and females, it is used mostly in the Johannesburg area. A corrupted form of ‘darling’, it will be heard thus: ‘Your turn to take out the dirtbin, Doll.’ ‘But I took it out it last time, Doll.’ ‘Well take the bladdy thing out again, Doll.’.