laced mutton

English

Noun

laced mutton (plural laced muttons)

1. (idiomatic, obsolete) A prostitute.
   • 1624, Ben Jonson, Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion:

     A fine laced mutton, Or two; and either has her frisking husband

   • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     Ay sir: I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced mutton, and she, a laced mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour.

References

• “laced”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.