giglet, giglot
(ˈgɪglɪt, -ət)
Forms: 4 gigelot(te, (4 gegelotte, gegilot, 5 giggelot), 5–6 gyg(e)lot, 6 giglott(e, 6–7 gigglet, -lot, 6– giglot, giglet.
[Of obscure origin; the 14th c. form gigelot(te seems to point to a Fr. (or AFr.) etymon, but nothing satisfactory has been found. Cf. gig n.1 (sense 4), which is prob. in some way connected. The less unfavourable sense (1 b) which the word assumed in later use seems due to association with giggle v.1]
1. † a. Originally, a lewd, wanton woman (obs.). b. A giddy, laughing, romping girl.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xliv. 7 Here he praysis him of his wife þat is na gigelot. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 233 Poul moveþ not here to joie, as joien unstable men in gegilotis. c 1430 How Gd. Wyf tauȝte hir Dau. 82 in Babees Bk. 40 Go not to þe wrastelinge..As it were a strumpet or a giggelot. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) K 3 a, Marry gep Giglet, thy loue sits on thy tongs end. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 352 Away with those Giglets too, and with the other confederate companion. 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus v. iv, And I be brought, to doe A peeuish Giglot rites? 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry iii. G 2 a, If this be The recompence of striuing to preserue A wanton gigglet honest. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. ii. Song v, Some young giglet on the green, Wi' dimpled cheeks and twa bewitching een. 1820 Lond. Mag. June 631/1 Hump-backed giglots, scrimply arrayed in two guineas' worth of trumpery British muslin. 1865 W. White E. Eng. I. 97 A party of showy giglots, who have come from Norwich, to take part in the fortunes of the day. 1885 Chamb. Jrnl. 758 Why should female clerks in the postal service consist of pert giglets hardly out of their teens? |
† c. Applied to a man: One excessively given to merriment.
Obs. rare.
| 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1171/1 Of trouth..my selfe am of nature euen halfe a gigglot. |
2. attrib. and
Comb. Chiefly appositive and
quasi-adj., as in
giglet-flirt,
giglet-fortune,
giglot-wench;
giglot-like,
giglet-wise advs. Also
giglet-fair, a statute fair for hiring servant-girls (but
cf. gig-fair).
| 1890 Baring-Gould Old Country Life 296 The farm-servants..were hired at certain fairs..; in the West of England these are called *giglet fairs. |
| 1562 T. Phaer æneid ix. E e iv, Your stody chief is daunse in pampring feasts w{supt} *giglet flirts. |
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. i. 31 The fam'd Cassibulan, who was once at point, (Oh *giglet Fortune) to master Cesars Sword. |
| c 1450 Henryson Test. Cres. 83 And go amang the Greikis air and lait Sa *giglot-lyk. a 1577 Gascoigne Flowers, Herbs, etc. Wks. (1587) 70 Ask him what made her leave her woful aged sire And steale to Athens gyglot like. |
| 1550 Bale Eng. Votaries ii. G ij, A sort of wanton *gyglot wenches. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 41 Yong Talbot was not borne To be the pillage of a Giglot Wench. |
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades 224 The wife that gadds not *gigglot wise, with euerie flirting gill. 1600 Fairfax Tasso vi. lxxii, That thou wilt gad by night in giglet wise. |
Hence
† ˈgigletry, lasciviousness.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 161 Oþer men wifes were a slepe and som aboute gigelotrie [L. circa lascivias occupatis]. 1487 How Gd. Wife taught her Dau. 159 in Barbour's Bruce 530 Nocht leif to vantoune giglotrise. |