Jilt

Word of the Day for Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Jilt \jilt\, verb:

1. to reject or cast aside (a lover or sweetheart), especially abruptly or unfeelingly.

noun:
1. a woman who jilts a lover.

But for the sake of some of her relations, I shall give my fair jilt a feigned name.
-- Aphra Behn, The Fair Jilt, 1688

"...we know very well women scarcely ever jilt men; 'tis the men who jilt us."
-- Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, 1874

The origin of jilt is uncertain, but it is perhaps from the Middle English gille meaning "lass" or "wench," which was a shortening of the women's name Gillian, a variant of Jill.

 

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