painted woman

American  

[peyn-tid woom-uhn] / ˈpeɪn tɪd ˈwʊm ən /

noun

Archaic.

1. a prostitute.

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painted woman British  

noun

1. old-fashioned a woman whose appearance suggests she is promiscuous

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Example Sentences

The face of Rivera’s painted woman was based on Olympic gold medalist Helen Wills, but the character is inspired by “The Adventures of Esplandián,” a 16th century novel by Castilian author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.

From Los Angeles Times

The suffragists’ protest had the loosest relationship to art, since there was no reason why people could not enjoy looking at a Velázquez piece and also support votes for women, but in the aftermath, Richardson eloquently contrasted newspaper readers’ horror at damage done to a painted woman with their previous indifference to the damage done to a living body.

From Slate

Her parents named her Ada because Ada Katz, the wife of artist Alex Katz and, by some counts, the most painted woman of the 20th century, told them at a dinner party, “I’ve always thought Ada was a nice name.”

From New York Times

You can imagine the impact of the fall causing irreparable fissures in the paint; you can imagine oils from the handler’s fingers degrading the pigments; you can imagine his thumb carelessly poking a hole through the painted woman.

From New York Times

There is melancholy and intelligence in the finely painted woman of van Mieris, and great esprit in the figure of Metsu.

From Washington Post