working girl
8
8.6
- noun
- /ˈwɜrkɪŋ ɡɜrl/
- NSFW
:
prostituta
- Carrie was one of the finest working girls I ever had.
- Prostitution: Working Girls
You, you described first encountering of when you were with a prostitute or a working girl.
- You, you described first encountering of when you were with a prostitute or a working girl.
Examples
-
The client was looking for a working girl who could meet him at the hotel.
-
At 18, she's a working girl, and she still knows what she wants.
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Do I look like a working girl?
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I took you for a working girl.
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Well, I have always said that working girls take better care of themselves than most other women.
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And she was a working girl.
Fiction book (1993) -
I'm a working girl in case you forgot.
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You're doing all right for a working girl.
-
Wouldn't you like me better, Harry, if I were a working girl?
Fiction book (1990) -
I can easily respect an honest working girl because I don't think that sex is inherently evil.
Blog text (15)
Synonyms
478
9.3
An offensive word for a person who has sex for money
342
4.2
A person who has sex with other people for money
30
9.9
A woman who sells sex for money
25
9.9
A woman who sells sex, often used as an insult
23
7.9
A woman who is paid to have sex and who arranges meetings by phone or online
8
8.9
A person who offers sex for money on the street
1
8.9
A woman who offers sex for money by standing in the street
1
9.9
A woman who has sex with people for money
1
9.9
A woman who has sex for money, used in older books
A woman who has sex for money or who lives on the streets
A woman who has sex with people for money
A woman who has sex for money and often lives in high society
A woman who works as a prostitute
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although the words 'working' and 'girl' literally yield 'a woman who has a job', the specific sense 'a woman who works as a prostitute' is a euphemistic, idiomatic meaning that is not predictable from the constituents. A B1 learner who knows both words would most likely infer the literal employment reading and would need prior exposure to recognize the prostitution sense, so the expression is not transparently compositional.
Etymology
Working girl was also used as a polite word for a woman who works as a 'prostitute'. People used the softer idea of a working girl instead of saying 'prostitute', so the phrase came to mean that job.