subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum: see MONOSYLLABLE. Also SHAPE.
[?]. And some were yn to SHAPPUS; And some were vp to the pappus.
[?]. Reliquiæ Antiquæ, ii. 28.
| Semeramis hir name … | |
| Which wold no man in eny wyse denye, | |
| But wyth her crokid SHAP encrece and multeply. |
d. 1529. SKELTON, The Tunnynge of Elynoure Rummynge, 492.
| An old rybybe … | |
| And had broken her shyn | |
| At the threshold comying in, | |
| And fell so wyde open | |
| That one myght see her token … | |
| Said Elynour Rummyng … | |
| Fy, couer thy SHAP. | |
| With sum flyp flap! |
1530. PALSGRAVE, Langue Francoyse, fol. xxvi. Count, a womans SHAPPE, con.
1538. T. ELYOT, Dictionary, s.v. Hippomares. The SHAPE of a mare.
1847. HALLIWELL, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, etc., s.v. SHAPE. The A.S. gesceapu, verenda, pudenda…. Still in common use in Lincolnshire, used especially in the case of infants and children.
2. (Western American).—See quot.
1885. STAVELY HILL, From Home to Home, v. A pair of ‘SHAPS’ or leather overalls, with tags and fringes down the seams.
