moll en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
Etymology
From Moll, an archaic nickname for Mary (see also Molly).
Meanings
-
A female companion of a gangster or other criminal, especially a former or current prostitute.
"Makes me feel like a pirate," said Josella as she buckled hers on. "Better, I imagine, to be a pirate than a pirate's moll," I told her.
1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 72:The nostalgic canonization of the Kennedy presidency, the perfect antidote to the Nixon stench, was befouled by the revelation of Jack Kennedy’s mob-moll paramour.
2014 July 31, Frank Rich, “A Distant Mirror”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He[…]played a lone hand,[…]. Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin—but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her.
1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:
- A prostitute or woman with loose sexual morals.
- (Australia, New-Zealand, derogatory, slang) Bitch, slut; an insulting epithet applied to a female.
-
(Australia, New-Zealand, slang) A girlfriend of a bikie.
‘Oh God!’ groans Julie who once was a bikie moll back in the early seventies. ‘Hope it′s no one I know.’ But the Machismos turn out to be based on a New Zealand gang, which assembled in Australia after her time.
1995, Debra Adelaide, The Hotel Albatross, page 76:The bikies ‘molls’ included Susan Lloyd as Tart; Victoria Anoux as Flossie; and Rosalind Talamini as Sunshine.
1979, Eric Reade, History and Heartburn: The Saga of Australian Film, 1896-1978, page 209:Gilling first appeared as the biker′s moll Vanessa in Stone (1974) and the beautiful, evil cabin attendant in Number 96 (1974).
2009, Albert Moran, Errol Vieth, The A to Z of Australian and New Zealand Cinema, page 142:
- (Australia, New-Zealand, slang) A girlfriend of a surfie; blends with pejorative sense.
- (slang) A female fan of extreme metal, grunge or hardcore punk, especially the girlfriend of a musician of those aforementioned genres.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| mole | alternative | lexicographic | |
| molls | Number=Plur | lexicographic |