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betty

noun
/ˈbɛti/

Etymology

From Betty (nickname for “Elizabeth”). In thieves’ cant a tool for wrenching locked doors is also called a Bess (from “Elizabeth”) or a Jenny. The “attractive woman” sense may relate to the character Betty Rubble in the cartoon The Flintstones.

Definitions

  1. A short bar used by thieves to wrench doors open

    A short bar used by thieves to wrench doors open; a jimmy.

    • No modern Lycæum vvill ever equal thy Glory, […] deſcribing the povverful Betty, or the artful Picklock, […]

  2. A picklock, skeleton key

    A picklock, skeleton key; a tool for opening locks.

  3. A man who performs tasks that traditionally belong to a woman

    A man who performs tasks that traditionally belong to a woman; (originally) an effeminate or gay man.

  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. A pear-shaped bottle covered with straw, in which olive oil is sometimes brought from…

      A pear-shaped bottle covered with straw, in which olive oil is sometimes brought from Italy; a Florence flask.

      • On olive oil in casks, twenty cents per gallon; olive salad oil in bottles or betties, thirty per centum ad valorem

    2. A baked dessert made with alternating layers of sweetened fruit and buttered bread crumbs.

      • A pie-size betty is traditional, but if you like, assemble the recipe in individual ovenproof ramekins.

    3. An attractive woman

      An attractive woman; a babe.

    4. To pick a lock, to open with a betty.

      • “Well then,” he said. “Let’s say you can betty the lock, hang on a rope, and break the drum, and then lock up again with nobody the wiser. How do I get on in the first place, past the Scots jack, with his sharp cool?”
      • The forty quid! Gone! ’Ow could she ’ave gotten in there? The peter ain’t broke, no sign of it bein’ bettied, and I the only one w’ the key.

    5. To be overly attentive to someone or something.

      • “I’m perfectly well, thank you, Miss Hester,” she said, coldly. “I detest being bettied.”
      • If anything on earth is reprehensible in a man and disgusting to a woman, it is to have said man hen-hussying and bettying about the kitchen

    6. A diminutive of the female given name Elizabeth.

      • People in the last century weren't afraid of homely names; now we are all so smart and fine: no more "Lady Bettys" now.

    7. A girl who hangs out with skateboarders or surfers.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for betty. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA