Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a woman, irrespective of age although orig. young, usu. as a term of endearment.

1860		Artist and Craftsman Mar. 304/2: The little half-clad girlies ran off to hide themselves; but their brisker brothers, ‘the waleds,’ soon got reconciled to Mark .
1876		St Louis Globe-Democrat 19 Jan. n.p.: For women such [slang] phrases as ‘done,’ ‘dame,’ ‘girly,’ etc.
1877		Princess Alice 28 July in Memoirs II (1884) 206: The two little girlies are so sweet, so dear, merry and nice.
1889		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 28 Dec. 6/2: [T]hat that little, lonesome-looking knothole of hog-intestine-encased mincemeat [...] waiting to. e stabbed with a fork by some succulent girlie .
1894		A. Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes 52: She is my own dear little girlie.
1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 263: There sidled up a well-seasoned Girlie.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 12 Oct. 3/6: ‘My jealous darling, who has always been good to his little girlie!’.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 24 Jan. 1/1: His grass widow girlie has demanded a new pair of boots!!
1909		Joyce letter 15 Dec. to Nora Barnacle in Ellman Sel. Letters (1975) 189: I am sure my girlie is offended at my filthy words.
1912		Sport (Adelaide) 26 Oct. 13/2: They Say [...] That Scotty finds more pleasure sporting his girlie to the seaside.
1913		H.G. Van Campen ‘Queen of the Slack Wire’ in McClure’s Mag. Jan. 320/2: ‘But listen, girlie,’ he entreated, and boldly clutched a fold of the crimson gown.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 17 Apr. 4/2: Stick to him, girlie, your only chance.
1916		‘New Church’ Times 29 May (2006) 93: Topping little girlies who loved the Brighton Métropole for occasional weekends.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 342: Then mayhap he would embrace her gently, like a real man, crushing her soft body to him, and love her, his ownest girlie, for herself alone.
1931		Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld) 3 June 9/1: I saw our boxing girlies / All so wonderful and clean / In the minimum of lingerie / of silk and crepe-de-chine.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 668: All right, girlie. Keep your pants up.
1944		H. Hunt East of Farewell 79: I like a guy like you [...] a guy who likes the girlies.
1944		R. Martin ‘Tea Party Frame-Up’ in Mammoth Detective May 🌐 Take it easy, girlie.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 79: You be a good girlie and get me Miss Warden on the phone.
1960		J. Iggulden Storms of Summer 263: ‘Come on, girlie,’ he said.
1964		L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence II iii: Not so fast girlie!
1973		D. Goines Street Players 56: ‘What’s wrong, girlie?’ he asked jokingly.
1981		A. Weller Day of the Dog 53: Bit of noise last night, girlie.
1987		Ice-T ‘Rhyme Pays’ 🎵 Because my jams be crazy packed with all fly ladies / I’m talkin’ def girlies and I don’t mean maybe.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 28: You are dismissed, girlie.
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 76: He was telling me about some nightclub [...] and the gaggle of girlies at that place.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 252: I need to write my girly some poems.
2019		P. Temple ‘High Art’ in The Red Hand 40: ‘Exposing the girlies to my genius’.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 44: She made the scene [...] across from him like a girlie in a peep show.

2. a nickname for an effeminate boy.

1924		Kingsley Moses ‘Girlie’ in Sport Story 22 Jan. n.p.: ‘Girlie — Girlie — Girlie!’came the shrill treble of a group of twelve-year-olds. [...] that was the sorrow Tommy Evans was forced to bear; to have a face any girl would have envied — and yet to be a man.
2003		K. Cage Gayle 72/1: girlie n. passive partner in homosexual intercourse.

3. a pin-up picture.

1949

This Week 23 Oct. 24: Favorites of the collectors are [...] ‘girlies’ (mostly by well-known calendar artists).

4. see girl n.¹ (5)