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hurdy-gurdy
[after the musical instrument]
B.C., Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1n.
a dance-hall girl who frequented the saloons and dance-halls of mining camps during the Cariboo gold rush.
Quotations
1866
Bonnie are the hurdies O,
The German hurdy-gurdies, O!
The daftest hour that e'er I spent
Was dancing wi' the hurdies, O!
Bonnie are the hurdies O,
The German hurdy-gurdies, O!
The daftest hour that e'er I spent
Was dancing wi' the hurdies, O!
1935
From the dance halls . . . came fair, flaxen-haired, straight-bodied girls arm-in-arm, most of them German or Scandinavians popularly known as the 'Hurdy Gurdies', with whom for a dollar and a drink one might dance, but nothing more. . . .
1950
There were plump, painted German dance hall girls, the "hurdy-gurdies" who demanded pay for every dance
2n.
a low-class dance hall where dancing-partners could be hired.
See: hurdy(-gurdy) house
Quotations
1937
The native dance hall girls had gone to their villages, and the hurdy-gurdy had closed its doors.