working womann.
/ˌwəːkɪŋ ˈwʊmən/, U.S. /ˈwərkɪŋ ˌwʊmən/ A working-class woman. Also (in later use): a woman who is in paid employment.
ΘΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > [noun] > woman
working girl1620
working woman1670
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > [noun] > working class > one of > woman or girl
working woman1670
grisette1735
Mary Ellen1945
1670 Acct. Causes Distempers 28 A poor Working-Woman, by a Blow upon her Right Breast with the Key of a Door, which she run against, had a great Pain in it.
1695 W. Payne Serm. Death of Queen 20 The famous Character of his Vertuous Working Woman.
1732 Daily Jrnl. 27 Sept. A working Woman in Spittle-fields.
1794 W. Pomeroy Gen. View Agric. Worcester 27 A considerable number of men, and a much larger proportion of the working women and girls of the city.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xv. 148 A child, playing at washing, and imitating a poor working woman.
1879 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 487/2 Every great centre of work and activity in London ought to have such a place of assembly for working women.
1918 Current Hist. Feb. 200 Workingmen and workingwomen have raised the cry for bread, peace, and liberty in the street.
1957 N.Y. Amsterdam News 31 Aug. 5/3 Under these amendments.., a working woman may, if she wishes, become entitled to social security payments as soon as she reaches age 62.
2012 T. Borstelmann 1970s ii. 83 Working women in the 1970s averaged fifteen more hours per week of work at home and outside than their husbands.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1670