bitch v.
1. to go whoring; thus bitchery, working as a whore; bitching, whoring.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 61: By report, she [i.e. ‘this harlot’] would be wekely worth vi or seuen shyllinges with her begging and bychery. | |
| Groundworke of Conny-catching [as cit. c.1566]. | |
| Scoffer Scoff’d (1765) 177: Jove, thou now art going a Bitching. | |
| ‘A Walk to Islington’ Writings (1704) 63: When Whores have a more than ord’nary Itching / To the Fields, and so Ramble a Bitching. | |
 | Hudibras Redivivus II:2 17: One Dose will make a Fool despise / A vertuous Wife, that by him lies, / And give him a lascivious Itching / To ramble o’er the Town a Bitching. | |
| Authentick Memoirs of Sally Salisbury 98: The first lac’d Smock she [had] upon her Skin was mine, and I lent it to her to go a Bitching in. | |
| [ | | Narrative of Street-Robberies 48: Together with Mother Bitchington’s crying out, Why you pocky Toad, do you think the Gentleman came here without Breeches?]. |
| Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 264: vétiller. To copulate; ‘to bitch’. | |
| Far from the Customary Skies 324: When I go bitchin’ I hang out a sign. |
2. to act in a promiscuous manner; thus bitching, acting promiscuously.
| Wits Paraphras’d 86: But oh! Thy face was so bewitching / I cou’d not choose but have an itching; / [...] /Full dear I long’d to be a Bitching. | |
| Letters from the Dead to the Living in Works (1760) II 184: If ever I catch the strumpet in these territories, I’ll tear up the bung-hole of her filthy firkin, but I’ll reward her for her bitching. | |
| Hudibras Redivivus I:4 2: One Sempstress in her Hut a stitching, Another just strol’d out a bitching. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Tomboy (1952) 100: She was bitching around Times Square with him last night. | |
| Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 146: The Wolf Man was in the kitchen, bitchin’ / with a hundred zombie whores. / Say, he tickled and sucked them whores to death. | |
| Guardian G2 28 Jan. 5: She was a lazy woman [...] I think she makes money by bitching. |
3. (orig. US) to complain.
| Compleat and Humorous Account of Remarkable Clubs (1756) 64: A Leadenhall Butcher would be bitching his Wife, for not only opening her Placket, but her Pocket Apron to his Rogue of a Journeyman. | |
| ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in AS VII:5 329: bitch—v.—to complain; to wrangle; to ‘bull.’. | |
| Brain Guy (1937) 69: The sore bastards. Forty-five ain’t enough. They got guts bitchin’. We could’ve borrowed a couple of Duffy’s kids for half the dough. | |
| ‘Citadel Gloss.’ in AS XIV:1 Feb. 25/1: bitch v. To complain fervently and enthusiastically. | |
| (con. 1944) Naked and Dead 86: Private Gallagher is bitching, men. | |
| Battle Cry (1964) 292: I know you hear a lot of Marines bitch. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 346: What’s ’e bitching on about now. | |
| Last Exit to Brooklyn 41: Just sit, and bitch about the heat like tired johns. | |
| Dopefiend (1991) 219: If you ain’t bitchin’ about one thing, it’s something else. | |
| (con. 1960s) Black Gangster (1991) 16: Fox bitched about anything and everything. | |
| Ladies’ Man (1985) 49: I bitched about cats and crazies. | |
| Train to Hell 49: They were now sulking in a corner [...] doing each other’s hair and bitching about Sound. | |
| Misery (1988) 271: I only bitched about it once [...] one bitch. | |
| Golden Orange (1991) 34: Bitching about the yesteryear music on the jukebox. | |
| Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 bitch v 1. to complain. […] (‘Oh, he’s just bitching about his boss.’). | |
| Observer 3 Oct. 28: Sorry. I bitch. | |
| Plainclothes Naked (2002) 124: It was all he could do to issue a parade permit without bitching about having to lift a pencil. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Thrill City [ebook] Chloe’d had plenty of time to bitch furiously to me under her breath. | |
| Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] No Nuts could bitch about whatever he wanted. | |
| Good Girl Stripped Bare 222: Mums’ clubs are criticised as chicks-sitting-around-bitching-about-their-blokes. | |
| Cherry 133: No one gave a shit. Really this was an inconvenience. So we bitched. | |
| Fabulosa 289/2: bitch [...] 2. to complain. |
4. (UK Und.) to give in, esp. through cowardice.
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: to bitch, to yield, or give up an attempt through fear. | |
| Dict. Sl. and Cant. | |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
| Modern Flash Dict. 5: Bitch, to – to yield, to give up an attempt thro’ fear. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835]. | |
| New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Bitch, to, to yield, to give up an attempt thro’ fear. |
5. (UK campus) to drink tea.
| Alma Mater I 30: I followed, and having bitched (that is, taken a dish of tea) arranged my books and boxes. | |
| College Words (rev. edn) 28: bitch. At Cambridge, Eng. to take or drink a dish of tea. |
6. to spoil, to ruin (cite 1832 poss. puns on senses 1/2).
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 11: To bitch a business, to spoil it. | |
| Satirist (London) 13 May 159/2: ‘Crocky, my boy, what do you think of the King, now?’—‘Vell, then,’ quoth Crocky, ‘I thinks as how he has bitched the business’. | |
| Handley Cross (1854) 360: If by any chance you bitch the thing, if all does not go smoothly and well on your part [etc.]. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 98: Bitch, to, [...] or to perform any thing badly. | |
| letter 12 Mar. in Paige (1971) 132: No, I did not write it, Eliot wrote it, but it would be extremely unwise for him, at this stage of his career, with the hope of sometime getting paid by elder reviews, and published by the godly, and in general of not utterly bitching his chances in various quarters, for him to have signed it. | |
| letter 17 Apr. in Paige (1971) 188: I know that he started in correct ambition to make the page good as a whole. But it has in this case bitched the original idea. | |
| (con. WW1) Patrol 55: ‘We’re done [...] Bitched!’. | |
| Handful of Dust 80: I’m afraid I rather bitched your evening. | |
| in Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) I 508: So Phillip of France usurped the throne, / His scepter was the royal bone, With which he bitched / The Bastard King of England. | |
| Diamonds Are Forever (1958) 100: ‘Shy Smile didn’t pay off.’ ‘I know. The jockey bitched it. So what?’. | |
| letter 31 Jan. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 881: We are back in the bastardly income tax epoch that comes to interrupt and bitch work. | |
| Boomerang 145: That’s bitched us [...] We can’t get the vans down to the bitumen. | |
| Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words 37: He bitched the job (did it poorly). |
7. (US) to cheat, to swindle; thus bitched, swindled.
| letter 19 July in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 119: Having been bitched financially and in a literary way by my friends. | |
| Shipbuilders (1954) 71: Good old Alan! [...] Ye’ve got the suckers bitched! |
8. to treat badly; thus bitched, treated badly.
| letter 5 Dec. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 332: The French are always bitched in foreign politics and invariably outwitted by any statesman. | |
| They Drive by Night 82: Now I’m messed and bitched about from pillar to bloody post. | |
| False Starts 127: One more bust and they’ll bitch me. | |
| Homeboy 122: While you wuz on Sick Bay I got bitched [...] Life Without for being a habitchual offender. |
9. (orig. US) to criticize, to attack verbally, to nag, to gossip harshly; thus bitched, criticized, nagged.
| Black City 156: They’re delighted the way you bitched the police. | |
| Guntz 69: A couple of queers [...] bitching it up about every one under the sun. | |
| Awopbop. (1970) 70: He [...] refused to bitch back when they were rude about him. | |
| Semi-Tough 296: It took me a while to figure out that I’d rather starve to death than get bitched to death. | |
| Puberty Blues 63: When there were no boys that we fancied [...] we bitched about our girlfriends. | |
| Misery (1988) 271: I only bitched about it that once. | |
| Van (1998) 615: Wha’ are youse two bitchin’ abou’? she asked them. | |
| Guardian Rev. 12 Nov. 3: I bitch, yeah. I have a fairly salty relationship with women. |
In derivatives
a complainer, a whinger.
| Six-Eleven (1966) 216: They’d just think I was a bitcher. | |
| et al. CUSS 81: Bitcher Constantly complaining and irritable. | |
| Ghetto Sketches 10: Go ’head and play! That’s one o’ them habitual bitchers! Don’t nobody never complain about us playin’ down here but him! |
In compounds
(Irish) the testicles.
| Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Bitch-bag (n): male scrotum or bollocks. |
a public address system; a loudspeaker.
| Derelicts of Company K (1978) 258: Someone yelled over the ‘bitchbox’ that ‘the CO wants fifteen more guys’. | |
| ‘Pacific War Lang.’ in AS XXII:1 54: bitch box. A public address system. | |
| ‘Terms Used in a Men’s Dormitory’ in AS XLII:4 228: bitch box, n. phr. A generic name for the main control panel of the intercommunication announcement system. | |
| Seize the Time 23: I got a call on the bitch box [...] I just ripped the bitch box out of the wall. | |
| Last Toke 171: He noted your license plate number, fed it to DMV when the broadcast about two blacks taking off Simon came over the bitch box. | |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 45: Common current forms include [...] bitch box (a loudspeaker). |
collective denigration or complaining, of an absentee third party, one’s poor circumstances, etc.
| ntnews.com.au 12 Apr. 🌐 How did this article turn into a bitch fest about barking dogs? | |
| ‘In the neighborhood’ in ThugLit Dec. [ebook] So it [a male gathering in a bar] turned into a great bitch-fest. |
(S.Afr. gay) one who complains constantly.
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Gayle. |
(orig. US milit.) a conversation in which one airs one’s complaints.
| ‘Pacific War Lang.’ in AS XXII:1 Feb. 54: Bitch session. A bull session, gripe session. | |
| Twelve O’clock High! (1975) 208: I want there to be plenty of squawks. A real bitching session. | |
| Battle Cry (1964) 48: The bitching session faded. | |
| , | | DAS. |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 45: Common current forms include [...] bitch session (a group of complainers in the act thereof). | |
| Twitter 24 Nov. 🌐 [A] bitch session about how everyone else stopped us from performing at our best. |
In phrases
to complain all the time; also as adj., complaining constantly.
| Story vols. 29-30 11: The bitching and moaning was immediately loud and long. | |
| Meanwhile, Back at the Front (1962) 219: They bitched and moaned and bellyached. | |
| et al. CUSS. | |
| Cogan’s Trade (1975) 158: For a guy that’s been having himself a regular party for three days or so [...] you sure bitch and moan a lot. | |
| Teenage Wasteland 201: For years, the fanzines were filled with bitch-and-moan manifestos about the dreaded alloy invasion. | |
| Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 bitch v 1. to complain. Also bitch and moan. (‘Oh, he’s just bitching about his boss.’). | |
| August Snow [ebook] ‘Listening to her bitch, moan, piss and groan about this, that and the other’. |
(US) furious.
| Big Heat 105: He’s bitched-off about the Bannion business. |
1. ruined, spoilt.
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 31/1: Bitched (Printers’) Spoilt, ruined, in reference to type. | |
| (con. 1917) ‘A Flier’s War’ in Longstreet Canvas Falcons (1970) 278: It’s a bitched-up war, isn’t it? | |
| letter 28 May in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 408: Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start. | |
| There Ain’t No Justice 214: I’ll be bitched if I do it. | |
| Slam the Big Door (1961) 57: Should Twin Keys fall through, the results of the four careful years of practice would be bitched. | |
| Dream of Peter Mann Act II: Bitched by myself. That’s something to tell the looking-glass. |
2. confused.
| letter 12 Dec. in Read Letters to James Joyce (1968) 148: ‘Bitched mess of modernity’ is no reflection on the innocents Giorgio and Lucia. | |
| Killer Inside Me n.p.: ‘It’s a screwed up, bitched up world, and I’m afraid it's going to stay that way’. | |
| (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 375: I have him bitched, balloxed and bewildered. | |
| Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 34: She was all bitched up behind Lee. She knew he occasionally balled other chicks on the side, but he was the only one who could turn her on. | |
| Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words 38: Bitched, Buggered and Bewildered. [...] a simple metaphor for one who is confused and suspects a swindle. |
3. of a woman, very unpleasant.
| in Sweet Daddy 83: That lousy bitched up broad, that finking god-damned twat. [...] My mother. |
4. (US) angry.
| Masque of Honor 187: She’s all bitched up about her and Lester not being on the platform with the mayor at City Hall tomorrow. | |
| Go Ask Alice 101: I feel really bitched and pissed off at everybody. |
5. (US gay) dressed up, esp. in a blatant homosexual manner.
| Rent Boy 80: He’s all bitched up for some reason in a burnt orange Thierry Mugler number, like a Dean and DeLuca carrot. |
1. (S.Afr.) to run away, to escape.
| Transvaal Episode 274: ‘Where’s that dirty, stinking son of a pig?’ he muttered. [...] ‘He’s bitched off,’ Roberts said. |
2. (US campus) to annoy, to irritate.
| ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 56: bitch off vt Irritate, irk, or annoy. | |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 45: Common current forms include [...] bitch off (to annoy, as in ‘That bitches me off’). |
to act in a cowardly manner, to turn informer.
| No Lights, No Sirens 245: ‘Now don’t bitch out on me. You and me are gonna get up in each other’s guts’. | |
| Gutshot Straight [ebook] Jasper told him that Rock Star had bitched out and bolted. |
(US campus) to tell someone off; to attack verbally.
| Rock 99: She bitches him out forty different ways. | |
| Campus Sl. Nov. 1: bitch out – criticise in an unkind way. | |
| Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 bitch out v 1. to complain to; yell at. (‘She got bitched out by her boss.’). | |
| Thrill City [ebook] I heard the relationship ended because you started bitching her out. You were jealous of her talent. | |
| Drawing Dead [ebook] She was about ten minutes late. I bitched her out about it straight up but really I didn’t care. |
(US) of a woman, to irritate or cause trouble for a man, e.g. a boyfriend, by flirting or playing ‘feminine’ games.
| Jailbait Street (1963) 21: Don’t let Rose bitch you up [...] But she can’t help it. She still goes for you. |
see separate entry.