What is a 'Doxy'?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Rasener
Date: 08 Feb 09 - 06:05 AM

LOL

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST,Doxy
Date: 08 Feb 09 - 05:58 AM

So far i'm happy to say I've never had a moments doubt although I didn't quite understand when he explained how father christmas gets into the house now we have central heating or why the tooth fairy didn't give my mum loads of money when her dentures fell out. But I guess that's because i'm just a girl and not as clever as him. he even tells me that's why I have to do the easy bit and play the melodeon while he does all the hard technical singing stuff. He's so considerate!!!

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 04:44 PM

Julia
do you beleive everything that Derek tells you :-)
Les

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 04:23 PM

Hi Julia - I read all down the thread looking for one from you or Derek, and only just found it...

Kitty

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST,Doxy
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 04:17 PM

It's always nice to have a mention on mudcat. Doxies are the historic equivalent of social workers. When those poor tired sailors came home from sea with work related stress problems they would visit the Doxies for a nice cup of tea and a chat and they came away feeling much better. Honest (thats' what Derek told me when we picked our name)
They must have been good at what they did because some of them charged a lot of money for their services and the sailors seemed to keep going back!!!
Doxy

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:41 AM

Over here, of course, those curious little dogs are "dachsies" pronounced with a long A. No fear of confusion - which is just as well...

Regards

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: David C. Carter
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:34 AM

In his book-A Confederacy of Dunces-John Kennedy Toole has his main character Ignatius J.Reilly refer to his girlfriend as a 'Doxy'.Her answer to everything is "sex".
Aside from that,it is a great book.IMHO.

Cheers

David Carter

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: mrwassail
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 08:04 PM

A little german dog dachshund

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Nick E
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 07:59 PM

My Weiner (Dog) has long hairs on it! I have just the one,
Matilda is her name.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: olddude
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 07:01 PM

to me, a Weiner dog is a doxy
i have 3

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: robomatic
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 11:41 AM

Not to be confused with 'Sockdologer'!

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Joe_F
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 08:55 PM

"Fier" (also spelled "pheare" etc.), according to the OED, could mean a mate of either sex, *or* a spouse. It appears in a terrific speech, probably written by Shakespeare, in _The Two Noble Kinsman_.

Speaking of Burns, one might note in The Jolly Beggars,

With the ready trick and fable,
Round we wander all the day,
And at night in barn and stable
Hug our doxies in the hay.

A fig for those by law protected! etc.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: open mike
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 03:58 PM

i had only heard this word as a description of Dachshund dogs
as kat said..http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/dachshund.htm

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 02:56 PM

Well, apropos of practically nothing, my second sailboat (an 11-foot Cape Cod dinghy) was named DOXY---it sounded sporty, offended nobody and fit on a small (but well-shaped) transom.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 12:56 PM

As for the expression round heeled - A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance by Jane Juska, 2007.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 12:33 PM

All the oblique definitions of "doxy" remind me of a line I use in the introduction when singing "Easy Rider":

"An Easy Rider is a gentleman who lives on the earnings of young ladies who are no better than they should be."

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 09:26 AM

The term is used in the book for the circa 1956 musical The Music Man, when salesman Charlie Cowell finds he has been tricked by Marian Paroo into missing his train. He calls her a "round-heeled doxy fizz-gig".

The show begins July 4, 1912 (incidentally, first day of use of the 48 satr US flag - perhaps to save expense on scenery?), and has numerous terms archaic by 1956, especially in "Rock Island" and "Trouble".

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 08:27 AM

The Penguin Dictionary of Historical Slang , abridged from Partridge, covers most of the bases mentioned in this thread. I particularly like his first definition:

in mid-C.16-18 cant, a beggar's trull, a female beggar.

Elsewhere, luckily, he defines trull as "a harlot"

Regards

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Rasener
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 08:17 AM

Well I am sure Derek & Julia would know AKA Trim Rig & A Doxy

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 08:08 AM

"I don't think it necessarily means she's "loose", it just means that she could be if she wanted to be."

I think we need to pick up our drinks and move over to the Middle Age Dating thread.

; )

Dani

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST,eggbucland
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 04:45 AM

doxy is this weird lasy who i think fancys chickens because she sticks them up her top and that is sick and she carrys all th stuff shes nicked and as she walks she nits and she tricks the chickens.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: beadie
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 10:46 AM

Here, and all this time I thought that the term "doxy" was one of endearment used by owners of short-legged, feisty, ground-animal hunting canines for their companions.

In short (pardon the pun), its a weiner dog!

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 07:40 AM

If I read the conversations of Pvtes Mulvaney, Ortheris et al. right, Mr Red's observations about "bint" are correct. In these and other texts "bint" always denotes the indigene unmarried young female with no objections to any moral deviations implied in the use of the word.
Speaking with todays veterans of HM's Services, they used and understood the term in the sense described above.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Mr Red
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 03:53 PM

bint and wench are good earthy words for "woman" in black country dielect. Nothing unseemly about them per se.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 12:23 PM

Untidy and slovenly is another definition for slattern (and the one in the OED). Webster's adds the meaning of slut or prostitute. Is it used in that sense in the British Isles as well?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Trevor
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 11:49 AM

I like 'slattern'. In fact I think I did once like a slattern!

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Tone d' F
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 05:13 AM

A woman of negotiable virtue

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 02:51 AM

A male equivalent for "doxy" might be nicknamed "doxy", too. Reference can be found here

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 12:08 AM

I seem to remember "bint' from Kipling- or other author who wrote about the East. It means daughter in Arabic, and has appeared in English writings since 1855 (OED). It therefore was picked up in the old Empire-building days. It is easy to see how it got applied to "availables" by British troops , company employees and civil servants.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 12:06 AM

Interesting book there, Dicho. A quick search at www.bookfinder shows two orignals priced at $350.00 each, but it looks as though there is a 1981 facsimile, with new intro, for an affordable $23-24! Our library sale starts this Saturday. I shall have to brave the masses and see if I can find anything comparable. Ya never know what someone's old auntie might have had hidden away all of these years!

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 11:44 PM

I have just found out that leman is Middle English from the 13th century - jeez that's a long time ago!
Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 10:12 AM

"Rubbing yourself with a dock leaf gives you relief from pain, and the same could be said for a doxy." What a relief, when she gave you the claps! (Sailor's lament).
In the etymological discussion, however, it seems that a certain change of meaning might be observed. It semms to hit the girls most of the time.
In High German the term Dirne meant a girl in former times, now a prostitute. In the Dialects of Northern Germany, however, (Deern) and Bavaria (Dirndl, diminutive) the original meaning is preserved.
In France the same happened to poor fille, the daughter. To discern a daughter from a woman of a disputable character she is now spoken of as a jeune fille.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 10:02 AM

don't have time to check if it is said but Stan Hugill referred to them in the context of loose or whoring women on the dockside.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: The Walrus at work
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 09:03 AM

Murray,

The term "bint" in English well predates WW2, coming back with British troops from India.

Dicho, Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue? A great book (I just wish I could find my copy)

JennieG,

I don't know what today's term for an enthusiastic amateur in the matress stakes (except, perhaps "slapper" which is considered insulting), but at one point it seems that "Whores" were the amateurs (the professionals being "harlots"), (see "Moll Flanders", where she describes herself as wife to one brother and whore to the other).

Regards

Walrus

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 04:57 AM

To return to JennieG and Dicho's 04Mar02 postings (well, I've been away!!) and the term "LEMAN" :
Don't some versions of that Three Ravens ballad ("down a-down, hey down a-down" refrain) read :
"may God grant every gentleman, such hawks, such hounds and such leman" ??? No clues to marital status though ...
Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 12:54 AM

Spelt "fier" by Robert Burns, in the world's best known song "Auld Lang Syne".

"So here's a hand my trusty fier, and gie's a hand o' thine".

(Frequently misquoted as "my trusty friend", including in the DigiTrad)

Murray

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 12:52 AM

If she strummed on his trumpet
They called her a strumpet,
For dollops of goo she's a trollop!

Oops, Pooka, back to you...my well just ran dry! LOL!!!

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 09:04 PM

Fere= phere= companion, consort or mate (OED). Obsolete. Not a word I know anything about.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: The Pooka
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 08:54 PM

katlaughing, yer at it again, & I'm pookchortling. The *strumming of a trumpet*? / heehee/ Well, shofar sho good. Will you relate further, then? :)

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Mr Red
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 08:11 PM

What about the old word "phere"
I've seen it on two occasions and both were memorial plaques.
You would expect the word "wife" or "spouse" unless the person referred to was a "paramour". I read it as "mistress" but only in context. Literal meaning is dear or loved one.
Cookham Parish Church was one. Just across from the ferry Pub - (Maidenhead FC every Thursday)

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: JennieG
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 07:44 PM

Great resource Dicho! Some of those old terms are wonderfully colourful; why is it that words today seems so much duller in comparison? I know that language is continually evolving but it doesn't seem to be as much...I don't know.....fun? What are the current terms for "enthusiastic amateurs" then?
Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 03:47 PM

What a resource, Dicho!

Doll was also in use in the Rocky Mountains. My dad's term of endearment for my big sister was "Super-doll." I still catch myself calling my girlfriends that, sometimes.

I rather like the way trollop and strumpet roll off the tongue. Sounds like some sort of mix-up of a dollop of something and a strumming of a trumpet?**BG**

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 01:58 PM

Jennie- "floozie" put my mind back in time over 50 years. My grandmother used he term. I think it is now becoming obsolete.
McGrath- haven't heard "Dolly girl." Not used over here in America?
KatL- yep, only see trollop and strumpet in books now. I remember prossie (ahem, as a general term!)

And I just remembered my copy of "A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence (with...changes and improvements ...by a member of the Whiplash Club), 1811. (a "buck" is a debaucher). Here are some of its definitions :
Doxies (dells)- She beggars, wenches, whores.
Doll- Bartholomew doll- an over-drest woman, like one of the children's dolls at Bartholomew Fair. (to mill doll; to beat hemp at Bridewell or any other house of correction) [before Pol. Cor., doll was a common term in NY-NJ and region for a woman.
Lady Abbess- The head-mistress of a brothel.
Ace of spades- a widow.
Ape leader- an old maid. Their punishment after death, for neglecting to increase and multiply, will be leading apes in hell.
Arch doxy- the female equivalent of a leader, among canters or gypsies. (canter- thieves, beggars or gipsies; anyone using the canting lingo)
Aunt- my aunt; a procuress or baud; a senior dell (doxy)who serves as instructress for the dells
Beard splitter- a man much given to wenching [common Mexican slang for intercourse is "to wet the brush"]
Bobtail- a loose woman
To box the Jesuit and get Cock Roaches- to masturbate; a sea-term for a practice said to be common among Jesuits.
Cold meat- a dead wife is the best cold meat in a man's house.
Colt's Tooth- an old fellow who marries or keeps a young girl is said to have a colt's tooth.
Convenient- a mistress.
Cooler- a woman.
Could go on- most interesting dictionary. Now to revive some of these colorful terms...

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 12:04 PM

The Oriental definition comes from my old friend Utah Phillips.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: sledge
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 12:01 PM

In the song Radcliffe highway, you have the line' "a young Doxy came rolling up to me", it then goes on to describe how the Doxy fleeces the sailor of his change while serving drinks. I've read that it was common for serving girls in the less salubrious taverns, certianly those that catered to the needs of sailors, to supplement their income by resorting to prostitution and theft, for a window into that dsort of life read the excellent book the floating brothel.

Sledge

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 11:31 AM

Just speculating, but if "doxy" is indeed of Eastern origin, it might well have come back via soldiers returning from the Crusades, in the same way that "bint" was popularized as a slang word for a young unmarried girl by British soldiers returning from the Middle East after the Second World War.

Murray

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 10:38 AM

Over here, at least in my parent's generation, a trollop or strumpet would have negative conotations, thus so would doxy, esp. if we are equating it with prostitute, which gets shortened to "prossie." Except for the latter, they all seem to be old-fashioned words, which I think of in more use when my parents were growing up than now.

The other word which comes to mind is "moll" as in a girlfriend of a mobster being known as a "gun moll." Not quite a prossie, but definitely a woman of loose morals in that she was unmarried and having sex with the guy.:-)

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 10:32 AM

Well, Les Barker has told us all about the problems dachshunds have in their love life." (And Les is in the States at present I think - don't miss him if you have a chance.

But I can't agree about doxy having "a ring of contempt" -In fcat I think it normally carries a touch of appreciation. True enough, a doxy, (however defined) "might threaten another woman's marriage". But the more likely term to be applied to her in this context would be something like trollop or strumpet.

(What a strange spell checker Inhave - it doesn't think there is such a word as strumpet. Or doxy for that matter. No problem with trollop though.)

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: The Pooka
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 01:24 AM

katstilllaughing - *LOL* - heeheeheehee - Bravo!

But a Doxy with the Poxy, boys, I tell yez to beware.

I gotta stick with the Dockside interpretation above, and the lyrics -

Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper, No more on the Dox I'll be seen....

btw there's a Rex Stout/Nero Wolfe novel "Death of a Doxy." / Just thought I'd throw that in, for the literary scholars...

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 01:17 AM

Okay, seriously, going by that clue, Murray, I did find this in a glossary for the Beggar's Opera:

"Doxies: a "doxy" is a prostitute or mistress. Here the term is used in reference to the women of a Turkish harem."

Might also note, Dachshunds are often referred to as Dachsies.:-)

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 01:08 AM

Ross' post aboave about the possible Oriental derivation of the word strikes a chord with me.

I can remember reading in some book somewhere at some time in my mis-spent youth, that the finest cigars were reputed to be those that had been "rolled on the thighs of Turkish doxies". Presumably in pre-Cuban days.

I had never come across the word before, and it has always stuck in my memory. It woouldn't be the first Arabic word to slide into the English language through the back door.

Murray

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 01:02 AM

You asked for it! Would a doxy have come from a school of hard knocks? And, dare I say it, does a doxy have to get off someone's rocks? And, if they are like Spaw, does she have to do it with her white sox on while on woks/walks? Or does it machs nicht? How do men feel about a moxy who talks all of the time? Is a moxy a fox with a box?

No, no

nnnnoooooo...stop meeee!

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: The Pooka
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 12:46 AM

Nono, kat! I'm laughing too! Don't stop!! :)

I think I bought a pair o'doxies m'self once, long long ago...

When I was a young man in me prime<
Away, Santy Anno
We'd knox them doxies two at a time
All on the plains of Mexico....

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 12:29 AM

Herga Kitty, LMAO!! That was a good one!

"Toy boy" just doesn't have the ring of contempt as doxy, imo; sounds too cutesy and no kind of threat to another male's territory, as a doxy might threaten another woman's marriage.

Following on Kendall's comment, I think I'd prefer calling them "friggers!"

Was the fellow in Romeo and Juliet really calling for a couple of doxies to bring the poxie on both their houses?

And, would a doxy be the type of kinky woman who would get into bagels and "locks?" Would she have the moxy to pick the lox at Ft. Knox?

*groan* stop me now!**BG**

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: JennieG
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 11:16 PM

I came across leman in a book by Anya Seton set in Elizabethan England - it was apparently in use then. I had never heard the word before so went searching in a dictionary; I don't know when it ceased being common usage. The context of use in that book led me to assume it referred to an unmarried woman who was involved in a sexual relationship with a man but possibly not as formal an arrangement as being a mistress would have been. Mind you I really like the term "floozie" for someone's light-of-love.
Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 10:40 PM

Very old word. I have not heard it in North America. Is it still used anywhere?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: JennieG
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 09:22 PM

'Leman" is also an old word for paramour or sweetheart - does this mean she is a 'leman tart'?
Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 04:38 PM

I can't believe that no-one has yet mentioned the paradoxies who fly in to your rescue and then go down ....

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 04:37 PM

"Toy boy" is I imagine derived by analogy from "dolly girl" - and on the assumption that "doxy" is derived from a word meaning "doll" that fits quite neatly, a return to the origins.

Actually the assumption that words just have one derivation is a bit suspect. It's a bit like the assumotion that a song has one origin. It can happen that two separate songs will merge, so that the song that ensues has two origins. I imagine that this happens with words as well.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 04:07 PM

Amusing! No one seems happy with authoritative dictionary definitions, and prefer their own or someone else's speculations.
The male equivalent around here in polite conversation is "toy boy" since in many cases the female is older. The term gigolo is seldom heard in America anymore- my daughter wanted to know what was meant by the song title "Just a gigolo."
There is no evidence that "tart" came from "sweetheart," but it is not unlikely; it also could come from sweet tarts. "Applied (originally endearingly) to a girl or woman (often one of immoral character." (OED) This suggests that the word was not derogatory when first applied. Tart in the sense of pastry appeared as tarta in medieval Latin, and was in English before the 16th C applied to fruit as well as to meat tarts. Tart in the sense discussed here first appeared in print with regard to a court case in the Morning Post newspaper, 1887. "The paragraph... referred to the young ladies in the chorus at the Avenue and spoke of them as 'tarts.' It was suggested on the part of the prosecution that the word 'tart' really meant a person of immoral character." (OED) This passage suggests that the term is older, but has not yet been found in older writing.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 03:39 PM

In the Orient I believe that a Doxy is a young, nubile, teenage girl.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Mr Red
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 03:25 PM

Visitor to Chief Petty Officer pointing to a strange woman on board standing alongside a whacking great steel rope. "Whot's that?".
CPO - " A hawser"
"Oooh bitchy, bitchy!"

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 12:29 PM

I always thought the Male equivalent was "normal hetrosexual". At least it was when I was a lad. JohnB

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 11:34 AM

It occurs to me the heading of this thread sounds like the title of some soggy country song...

And he looked up at me, and he said, "Dad, what is a doxy?" And I said, Son...

I think that is a song that needs to be written.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Joe_F
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 11:02 AM

The "orthodoxy"-"heterodoxy" pun is a good deal older than any of those guys. "Ascribed to William Warburton (Bishop of Gloucester) (1698-1779)", says Mencken.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: nutty
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 10:51 AM

how about "full-masted frigate"?????

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: artbrooks
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 08:19 AM

For a male version, how about "fancy boy" or, at a level equivalent to courtisan, gigolo?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: kendall
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 07:40 AM

It's interesting how men are admired for their pursuit of physical pleasure by their pals, and women are villified for the same pursuit. What a frigged up world we live in.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 07:00 AM

Possibly something to do with the plant? Rubbing yourself with a dock leaf gives you relief from pain, and the same could be said for a doxy.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 06:48 AM

Serious about the suggestion that ducky might be cognate with doxy? Well, it just occurred to me that it might indeed have a link. Though ducky isn't limited to refer to women (at least when women say it), so maybe less likely.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Sourdough
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 03:01 AM

Might not the male equivalent be "rake" or the earlier "rakehell"

Sourdough

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Muskrat
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 02:48 AM

I was going to reprimand you, Louisa, but upon reading the thread, I'll have to admit: posting the question here may be lazier than consulting a dictionary, but it's sure a lot more fun.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Hilary
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 02:29 AM

The word Doxy is still used in Staffordshire. It is (often) being used by a friend to refer to the woman her husband ran off with. So I don't think she has the fluffy bunnies image in mind !

Kevin, I'm not sure if you were serious about the connection with 'ducky', (or if this is relevant), but the affectionate term of 'duck', as in "Are you going up Hanley, duck" is likewise in common use in N.Staffs/the potteries.

.... I never knew 'tart' came from 'sweetheart'.

Hilary

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 11:48 PM

One online dictionary has the following:

Etymology: perhaps modification of obsolete Dutch docke doll, from Middle Dutch

Date: circa 1530

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 10:39 PM

Dock in seaport meaning is 16th C (OED), so it is old enough. "Doxy" has been around long enough to attract variant meanings. The OED says it is slang for a mistress, paramour or prostitute, but also recognizes the dialectical meaning of a wench, or sweetheart. The OED mentions that its origin is unknown but it is "possibly a derivative of dock."
1562: "If she be his harlot, she is called hys Doxy."
1827: "Spending all my money among doxies..."
1825: "a sweetheart, but not in the equivocal sense ...Shakespeare."

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 08:57 PM

And is the widespread expression of endearment "ducky" related?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 08:56 PM

That etymological link I gave which sees it as coming from "docke" meaning "doll" seems convincing enough. Was the term "docks" in its seaport meaning current as early as 1530?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Ferrara
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 08:40 PM

Always thought it was "Trim-rigged" doxy, as in "a trim ship." And I assumed it meant she was "neat and trim," however you want to take that, probably meaning what nutty said....

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Celtic Soul
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 08:09 PM

Everyone has the intent and spirit right! It was a woman of loose morals. But from what I have been told, the word actually derives from the word "Docks". A "Doxy" was a woman who hung around the docks waiting for the ships to come in. She'd then try and get him to spend all his (several years worth of) earnings on her (or just outright steal it from him).

Many folks songs about Sailors getting taken are about just such.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 07:47 PM

Possible related to "doty" - as used by little girls in Ireland for fluffy kittens and suchlike?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 05:57 PM

according to a site I found with Cornish dialect, it is listed as doxy......smart. pretty

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 05:30 PM

..." no gypsy slut nor Doxy, shall take my mad Tom from me! "

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST,Sparkle
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 04:41 PM

I've been told in a history book in school, that a Doxy is a vagrant (originating in Tudor and Stuart times) who carries a large sack on her back full of things that she has stolen. Some of the things she steals most often are chickens. She does this by putting a hook on some string and hides it in some corn. The chicken eats the corn and swallows the hook and chokes. Where did this information from?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: nutty
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 04:21 PM

Trimrig ...refers to her having all the right equipment in all the right places.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Desdemona
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 04:18 PM

I've always understood the term (certainly by Shakespeare's time) to imply a girl not averse to having a good time, who's quite probably light of virtue in a jolly, good-natured sort of way.

The doxy over the dell(dale) in Autolycus' song in "The Winter's Tale" is certainly mentioned in a merry springtime context:

"When daffodils begin to peer, -- With hey! The doxy over the dale, -- Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year; For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.

The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, -- With hey! the sweet birds, O, how they sing! -- Doth set my pugging tooth on edge; For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.

The lark, that tirra-lirra chants, -- With hey! with hey! the thrush and the jay, -- Are summer songs for me and for my aunts, While we lie tumbling in the hay."

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 04:05 PM

I don't think it necessarily means she's "loose", it just means that she could be if she wanted to be.

Here is a link to a quite extensive etymological exploration.

It seems the word comes from a word for "doll", and like doll it was primarily a term of affection. The same as "tart" (from sweetheart) - and like that word it got hijacked for other purposes.

In a song it doesn't necessarily imply that she's on the game. And insofar as the word still is current (and, whether as a survival or a revival, it is) I think it's reverted more to its older meaning, and doesn't have those implications.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 03:17 PM

Come along to Lancaster Maritime Festival over the Easter weekend to check out the 'poxy doxies'! Mind you you need to watch out that the press gang are not lurking nearby;-) The doxies have learned to stay away from the Abram Pace Eggers though - they did not appreciates their lily-white breasts being befouled with black make up. (Just ask St George about his fall from grace...)

Cheers

Dave the Gnome
(Or could be Hector)

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Amos
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 03:13 PM

Doxies (pl. ) of Doxy

Doxy (n.) A loose wench; a disreputable sweetheart.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Amos
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 03:10 PM

Doxological (a.) Pertaining to doxology; giving praise to doxies.

Doxologized (imp. & p. p.) of Doxologize

Doxologizing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Doxologize

Doxologize (v. i.) To give glory to doxies, as in a doxology; to praise doxies.

Doxologies (pl. ) of Doxology

Doxology (n.) A hymn expressing praise and honor to doxies, usually sung silently by male members of the congregation while other songs are being sung by other members.; a form of praise to doxies designed to be sung or chanted by the males of a congregation.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 02:47 PM

Young men of loose morals are simply young men. A standing p---k has no conscience.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: The Pooka
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 02:47 PM

"Orthodoxy is my doxy. Heterodoxy is another man's doxy."
-G.K. Chesterton (I think) (or else C.S. Lewis. One of them guys. Y'know.)

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 02:35 PM

Funny, an online dictionary lists the 1911 "floozies" as a synonym, citing the meaning as "usually young women of loose morals." made me wonder, what kind of word, if any, has there ever been for young men of loose morals, in that way?

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 02:33 PM

Isn't there a version of Newry Town which refers to six doxies carrying the guy's coffin?

- Ian B

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 02:09 PM

It changed over time. In the 16th and 17th century it was a beggar girl. Shakespeare - 'Hey the doxy over the dell' (misprinteed 'dale'). A dell was a married beggar woman.

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 01:57 PM

A lady of lesser virtue, an employee of the oldest profession (and incidentally the only other profession along with the Inland Revenue that insist on money up front....), one who makes her living from 'following the troops' as it were....

LTS

Subject: RE: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: Peg
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 01:53 PM

well, it is a sort of olde English term for a courtesan, strumpet, harlot, tramp...you get the idea...

Subject: What is a 'Doxy'?
From: GUEST,Louisa
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 01:51 PM

I heard a song about a "Trimrig Doxy". What is a Doxy? I think a Trimrig is a sailing boat.