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Definition of Betty
1. n. A short bar used by thieves to wrench doors open.
Definition of Betty
1. Proper noun. (diminutive=Elizabeth female given name). ¹
2. Noun. (slang slightly pejorative) An attractive woman; a babe. (Confer w:Betty Page and w:Betty Rubble.) ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Betty
1. a burglar's tool [n BETTIES]
Medical Definition of Betty
1. 1. [Supposed to be a cant word, from Betty, for Elizabeth, as such an instrument is also called Bess (i. E, Elizabeth) in the Canting Dictionary of 1725, and Jenny (i. E, Jane)] A short bar used by thieves to wrench doors open. Alternative forms: bettee] "The powerful betty, or the artful picklock." (Arbuthnot) 2. [Betty, nickname for Elizabeth] A name of contempt given to a man who interferes with the duties of women in a household, or who occupies himself with womanish matters. 3. A pear-shaped bottle covered round with straw, in which olive oil is sometimes brought from Italy; called by chemists a Florence flask. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Betty
Literary usage of Betty
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Harper's New Monthly Magazine by Henry Mills Alden (1884)
"betty was a delightful, frolicsome creature, abounding in anecdote, ... But,
alas, one fine morning poor betty took twenty or thirty dollars from the pocket ..."
2. Contemporary One-act Plays: With Outline Study of the One-act Play and by Benjamin Roland Lewis (1922)
"Nay, sweet betty call me not. CHARLES. Dear betty, then, the dearest betty. ...
Then, sweet betty thou art not, say rather sour betty, cross betty, ..."
3. The English Illustrated Magazine (1895)
"I ran back to the house and called to betty as I always did. I wanted her to come.
... I kept asking and asking where betty was, but nobody would answer me. ..."