demi-rep
(ˈdɛmɪrɛp)
Also -rip.
[f. demi- 11 + ‘rep, for reputation’, mentioned by Swift Polite Conversation, Introd. p. li, among ‘some abbreviations exquisitely refined,’ then in current use. Cf. also reputable, in common use in 18th c. in sense ‘honourable, respectable, decent’, and disreputable.]
A woman whose character is only half reputable; a woman of doubtful reputation or suspected chastity.
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xv. ix, He had yet no knowledge of that character which is vulgarly called a demirep, that is to say, a woman that intrigues with every man she likes, under the name and appearance of virtue..in short, whom every body knows to be what no body calls her. 1754 Connoisseur No. 4, An order of females lately sprung up..usually distinguished by the denomination of Demi-Reps; a word not to be found in any of our dictionaries. a 1764 Lloyd Poems, A Tale, Venus..The greatest demirep above. 1831 Lytton Godolph. 57 A coaxing note from some titled demirep affecting the De Stael. 1887 Athenæum 12 Nov. 631 His heroine appears..more of the demirep than has been commonly known. |
| attrib. 1784 New Spectator XX. 4/1 Adepts in the demi⁓rip language. 1841 Edin. Rev. LXXIII. 382 Women of the demirep genus. |
| transf. 1863 A. Gilchrist Life W. Blake I. 99 The now dingy demi-rep street. |
Hence
demiˈrepdom, the domain or world of demi-reps; the demi-monde.
| 1839 Carlyle in Froude Life in London I. vi. 158, I do not see well what good I can get by meeting him much, or Lady B. and demirepdom. |