subs. (old).—A harlot: see TART. [The waistcoat was formerly in use by both sexes: when worn by women without a gown or upper dress it was considered the mark of a mad, low, or profligate woman.]

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  1602.  DEKKER, The Honest Whore [DODSLEY, Old Plays (REED), iii. 291]. You’d best come like a mad-woman, without a band in your WAISTCOAT, and the linings of your kirtle outward.

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  c. 1614.  FLETCHER, Wit without Money, iv. 4.

          Luce.  D’ye think you’re here, sir,
Among your WAST-COATEERS, your base wenches,
That scratch at such occasions? You’re deluded.
    Ibid. (1619), The Humourous Lieutenant, i. 1.
Who keeps the outward door there? here’s fine shuffling!
You WAISTCOATEER! you must go back.

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  1659.  MASSINGER, The City Madam, iii. 1.

        I knew you a WAISTCOATEER in the garden alleys,
And would come to a sailor’s whistle.

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  1712.  HERRICK, Poor Robin. Everything with him is an Incentive to Lust, and every Woman Devil enough to tempt him, Covent Garden, Silk-Gowns, and Wapping WASTCOATIERS.

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