lass

Noun

lass (plural lasses)

1. A girl; also (by extension), a young woman.
   • Come and dance, ye lads and lasses!
   • [T]heyr founders soules / Haue lost theyr beade rolles, / The mony for theyr masses / Spent amonge wanton lasses; […]1521–1522, John Skelton, “Here after Followeth a Litel Boke Called Colyn Cloute, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […]...

   Synonyms:

   babe, bint, bird, cake, chick, colleen, cutty, damoiselle, damsel, elrig

   1. (specifically) A female member of the Salvation Army; a hallelujah lass.
      • Jenny Hill, a pale, overwrought, pretty Salvation lass of 18, comes in through the yard gate, leading Peter Shirley, a half hardened, half worn-out elderly man, weak with hunger.1905, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Major Barbara”, in John Bull’s Other Island and Major Barbara: Also How He Lied to Her Husband, London: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1907, →OCLC, Act II, page 216
2. (Geordie, Wearside, especially) A sweetheart.
   • But firſt him ſeemed fit, that vvounded Knight / To viſite, after this nights perillous paſſe, / And to ſalute him, if he vvere in plight, / And eke [also] that Lady his faire louely laſſe.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 388
   • It vvas a Louer, and his laſſe, / VVith a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, / That o're the greene corne feild did paſſe, / In the ſpring time, the onely pretty rang [ring] time, / VVhen Birds do ſing, hey ding a ding, ding.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

   Synonyms:

   babber, babe, precious, bae, baby, babycakes, bubba, bully, buttercup, cabbage

3. (Northern England, Scotland) A female servant; a maid, a maidservant.
   • […] I'll tell ye that after we are done wi' our supper, for it will may be no be sae weel to speak about it while that lang-lugged limmer o' a lass is gaun flisking in and out o' the room.1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and...
   • [S]ure aneugh, the lass washed clottered blood aff the carpet the neist day.[1824 June, [Walter Scott], “Letter XI. The Same [Darsie Latimer] to the Same [Alan Fairford].”, in Redgauntlet, […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and...
4. (Scotland, familiar) A term of address for a woman, or a female animal.
   • As fair art thou, my bonie laſs, / So deep in luve am I; / And I will luve thee ſtill, my Dear, / Till a' the ſeas gang dry.[1794, Robert Burns, “A Red, Red Rose”, in Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume IV, Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, published 1869, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 210
   • "Hi, Juno, lass—hi, old girl; down, Daph, down," said Wardle, caressing the dogs.1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “A Pleasant Day, with an Unpleasant Termination”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page...