[Vwoolf] Oxford English Dictionary entry--Virginia Stephen is listed as the first to use the word "bitchy"

Mon Jun 19 11:24:45 EDT 2023

Thanks, Vara--I remember having to intervene when a writer I was editing 
alleged that VW had referred to Katherine Mansfield as a bitch. I'm sure 
VW never did that, and now I'm laughing at her lexically groundbreaking 
self-characterization of mood if she doesn't get her afternoon walk in!

cheers,

Christine

ps of course VW loved Dogs and referred to the model for Flush as a 
bitch--which she was; a gift from VSWest

On 6/19/2023 10:16 AM, Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf wrote:
> bitchy, adj. Pronunciation: Brit. Hear pronunciation/ˈbɪtʃi/ , U. S. 
> Hear pronunciation/ˈbɪtʃi/ Forms: see bitch n. 1 and -y suffix1. 
> Frequency (in current use): Show frequency band information Origin: 
> Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: 
>
>
>   bitchy,adj.
>
> *Pronunciation:* 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://public-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/how-to-use-the-oed/key-to-pronunciation/__;!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8xz8RTn52$> 
>
> Brit. 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://public-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/how-to-use-the-oed/key-to-pronunciation/key-to-pronunciation-british-english/__;!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8x3dzOZv3$> 
> Hear pronunciation/ˈbɪtʃi/
> ,
> U.S. 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://public-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/how-to-use-the-oed/key-to-pronunciation/key-to-pronunciation-US-english/__;!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8xyqXhq_6$> 
> Hear pronunciation/ˈbɪtʃi/
> *Forms:*  seebitchn.^1 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/19524*eid19477483__;Iw!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8xw2J4Gus$>and-ysuffix^1 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/231078*eid14064830__;Iw!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8x0EnuH_P$>.
> *Frequency (in current use):* Show frequency band information 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/frequencybandinformation/4__;!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8x0AUJUZc$>
> *Origin:*Formed within English, by derivation.*Etymons:*bitchn.^1 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/19524*eid19477483__;Iw!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8xw2J4Gus$>,-ysuffix^1 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/231078*eid14064830__;Iw!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8x0EnuH_P$>.
> *Etymology:*<bitchn.^1 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/19524*eid19477483__;Iw!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8xw2J4Gus$>+-ysuffix^1 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/231078*eid14064830__;Iw!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8x0EnuH_P$>.
>
> *1.*Of a male dog or its appearance: having characteristics considered 
> typical of females; resembling (that of) a bitch.
>
> 1907 /Outing/July 496/1 Where is the dog? One man would say Hard Cash; 
> another would answer that he is too light and bitchy.
> 1922 /Dog Fancier/June 17/1 His coat altho good as to quality was some 
> lacking in cape and frill, giving him a rather bitchy appearance.
> 1961 C. H. D. Todd/Pop. Whippet/iv. 55 Avoid a bitchy ‘pretty pretty 
> dog’ [for stud] no matter how brilliant his show record may be.
> 2003 /AKC Gaz./Dec. 58/3 The judge finds that he [/sc./the dog] is 
> weedy, fine boned, and small ribbed. Let's say he looks bitchy.
> *2.*/colloquial/.
>
> *a.*Engaging in or characterized by spiteful criticism; malicious, 
> catty.The meaning in quot.1908 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www-oed-com.scsu.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/19530?redirectedFrom=bitchy&print*eid1011886391__;Iw!!KGKeukY!3hZxdPgxEz6yJG9_p0JHM_qTIRKJc1p1PeaQ0X-qV-aPKYzBpMDKWDIJX8wQuppVn5bHLLnGeb-ucCndGdm8x6dMLg16$>appears 
> to be closer to ‘bad-tempered, irritable’.
>
> *1908 V. Woolf/Let./20 Aug. (N.Y. Public Libr., Berg Coll., Woolf 
> Papers, Box 465, Folder 2)**   If I am to go out, & I get bitchy if I 
> stay in, I must tramp now, in my great boots & water proof.*
> 1934 E. Shaler/Wake & find Stranger/xviii. 161 They blamed her for not 
> getting me a job with Maxie, which was their way of being bitchy.
> 1958 P. Mortimer/Daddy's gone a-Hunting/xxxiii. 186 There's no need to 
> be bitchy.
> 2014 K. Carlisle/High-end Finish/285 Jennifer and Whitney were best 
> friends and confided in each other their deepest, bitchiest secrets.
>
> *b.*Sexually provocative, lewd. Now/rare/.
>
> 1928 A. Huxley/Point Counter Point/xii. 215 It was different in the 
> past... The liveliness wasn't..so exclusively bitchy, to put it bluntly.
> 1933 E. A. Robertson/Ordinary Families/iv. 65 Ronald said proudly that 
> the bits not dull were bawdy... Lester pronounced them ‘bitchie’, 
> having..acquired the term from an American art critic.
>
> With a giggle,
>
> Vara
>
> Vara Neverow
> (she/her/hers)
> Professor, English Department
> Editor,/Virginia Woolf Miscellany/
> Southern Connecticut State University
> New Haven, CT 06515
> 203-392-6717
> neverowv1 at southernct.edu
>
> /I acknowledge that Southern Connecticut State University was built on 
> traditional territoryof the indigenous peoples and nations of the 
> Paugussett and Quinnipiac peoples./
>
> /
> /
>
> *Recent Publications:*
>
> Lead editor,/Virginia Woolf: Critical and Primary Sources/(Bloomsbury, 
> 2020; with Jeanne Dubino, Kathryn Simpson, and Gill Lowe); Editor, 
> Volume One, 1975-1984, /Virginia Woolf: Critical and Primary 
> Sources/ (Bloomsbury, 2020); Co-editor,/The Edinburgh Companion to 
> Virginia Woolf and Contemporary Global Literature/ (Edinburgh, 2020; 
> with Jeanne Dubino, PaulinaPająk, Catherine Hollis, and Celiese Lypka)
>
>
>
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