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 1611. Cotgrave, Dict. s.v., Madame de rebut, a rascally drab, a whore.

[?]. Mary Ambree [Child, Ballads, vii. 113]. 'A mayden of England, sir, never will bee The whore of a monarche,' quoth Mary Ambree.

d. 1628. J. Beaumont, Psyche, iii. 184. Thou knowst my Wrongs, and with what Pain I wear the Name of Whore his Preachment on me pinn'd.

d. 1655. Adams, Sermons, i. 223. Tamar would not yield to Judah without a hire. The hire makes the whore.

1604. Plautus made English, 9. They'd set some sturdy whore's-bird to meet me, and beat out half a dozen of my teeth.

1713. Arbuthnot, John Bull. Frog was a sly whoreson, the reverse of John.

c. 1716. Congreve, Juvenal, xi. A Vestal ravish'd, or a Matron whor'd, Are laudable Diversions in a Lord.

1772. Bridges, Burlesque Homer, 183. Brave Diomed, I see Two whores' birds coming full at thee.

1772. Graves, Spiritual Quixote, iv. ix. Damn you all together for a pack of whores'-birds as you are.

1857. Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays, i. ii. 'Imp'dent old wosbird!' says he, 'I'll break the bald head on un.'

Why and Wherefore (The), subs. phr. (colloquial).—The reason, cause.

1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors. Every why hath a wherefore.

1624. Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iii. 1. Dispute learnedly the whys and wherefores.

1809. Malkin, Gil Blas [Routledge], 373. When I let him into the why and the wherefore, he laughed ready to split his sides.

d. 1897. Jean Ingelow [Century]. The why and the wherefore of it all. Who knoweth?

Why-not. To have (or be) at a why-not, verb. phr. (old).—To have, stand, or be in a dilemma; to pull up suddenly, to meet with a sudden check or reverse.

d. 1612. Harington [Nugæ. Antiq. (Park), ii. 144]. This game was like to have been lost with a why-not.

1664. Butler, Hudibras, ii. ii. 528. And snapp'd their canons with a why-not. Ibid. 'On Philip Nye's Thanksgiving.' When the church was taken with a why-not in the lurch.

1753. Richardson, Grandison, vi. 156. Now, dame Sally, I have you at a why-not, or I have had.

Wibble, subs. (provincial).—Weak lap (g.v.); any thin, weak beverage.

Wibble-wobble, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Unsteadily.

Wibling's-witch, subs. phr. (Halliwell).—The four of clubs.

Wicked, adj. (colloquial).—1. Roguish, mischievous; and (2) amorous, wanton, e.g. a wicked twinkle in the eye, to look wicked, etc.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It, iv. 1. That same wicked bastard of Venus.

1809. Malkin, Gil Blas [Routledge], 369. Our doctor is rubicund in the jowl, Efflorescent on the nose, with a wicked eye at a bumper or a girl.

1849-50. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxvii. Pen looked uncommonly wicked.

Wicket, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum: see Monosyllable.

MS. Addit., 12195. A weket of the wombe.

2. (common).—The mouth, gutter-alley (q.v.).

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, 169. With hir that will clicket make daunger to cope, Least quickly hir wicket seeme easie to ope.