wench
[wench]
- a country lass or working girl: The milkmaid was a healthy wench.
- Usually Facetious. a girl or young woman.
- Archaic. a strumpet.
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- to associate, especially habitually, with promiscuous women.
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Origin of wench
1250–1300; Middle English, back formation from wenchel, Old English wencel child, akin to wancol tottering, said of a child learning to walk; akin to German wankeln to totter
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for wench
Historical Examples
And there was the wench too—he had fairly forgotten her name.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
Hero is a "wench o' the Bankside," and Leander swims across the Thames to her.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
The wench came up soon after, all aghast, with a Laud, Miss!
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
And so this wench is to stock the parish with beauties, I hope.
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2Henry Fielding
I am secure in one of the wench's qualities however—she is not to be corrupted.
Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
wench
- a girl or young woman, esp a buxom or lively one: now used facetiously
- archaic a female servant
- archaic a prostitute
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- archaic to frequent the company of prostitutes
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Word Origin
Old English wencel child, from wancol weak; related to Old High German wanchal, wankōn
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for wench
n.
late 13c., wenche "girl or young woman," shortened from wenchel "child" (12c.), from Old English wencel, probably related to wancol "unsteady, fickle, weak," and cognate with Old Norse vakr "child, weak person," Old High German wanchal "fickle." The word degenerated through being used in reference to servant girls, and by mid-14c. was being used in a sense of "woman of loose morals, mistress."
The wenche is nat dead, but slepith. [Wyclif, Matt. ix:24, c.1380]
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v.
"to associate with common women," 1590s, from wench (n.). Related: Wenched; wenching.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper