Also 5–7 Ione, 7 Ioane. [A female proper name, orig. Joanna or Johanna, fem. of Jo(h)annes John; hence in transf. uses.]
1. A generic name for a female rustic.
[c. 1490. Promp. Parv., 264/2 (MS. H.). Ione, Johanna.]
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 207. Some men must loue my Lady, and some Ione. Ibid. (1595), John, I. i. 184. Now can I make any Ioane a Lady.
1612. Warner, Alb. Eng., XIV. xci. F j. Many a countrie Ione.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Joan, a homely Joan, a Coarse Ord’nary Woman.
1802. Mrs. Sherwood, Susan Grey, 48. You are such a dowdy, such a country Joan, no one will look upon you.
2. Name for a close-fitting cap worn by women in the latter half of the 18th century.
1756. Cowper, in Connoisseur, No. 134, ¶ 7. A grocer’s wife attracted our eyes, by a new-fashioned cap, called a Joan.
1762. Poetry, in Ann. Reg., 208. Now loose in a mob, now close in a Joan.
