slattern
pronunciation
How to pronounce slattern in British English:
UK [ˈslætən]
How to pronounce slattern in American English:
US [ˈslætərn]
-
- Noun:
- a prostitute who attracts customers by walking the streets
- a dirty untidy woman
Word Origin
- slattern (n.)
- 1630s, "a woman negligent or disordered in her dress or household," of uncertain origin, probably related to Low German Slattje, Dutch slodder, dialectal Swedish slata "slut" (in the older, non-sexual sense; compare slut). Compare dialectal English verb slatter "to spill or splash awkwardly, to waste," used of women or girls considered untidy or slovenly.
Example
- 1. Wretched slattern ! Where have you taken me ?
- 2. I will not have you looking like a slattern .
- 3. So much had circumstances altered their positions , that he would certainly have struck a stranger as a born and bred gentleman ; and his wife as a thorough little slattern !
- 4. Some of our comrades love to write long articles with no substance , very much like the " foot bindings of a slattern , long as well as smelly " .
- 5. But the first and foremost task is to throw the long , smelly foot-bindings of the slattern into the dustbin .