good woman:
1. A term of address for a woman . ' My good woman ... 'Quote: Captain Francis Grose. Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811): ' A nondescript, represented on a famous sigh in St. Giles's, in the form of a common-woman , but without a head .'
2. A respectable or honest woman in distinction to a bad-girl or bad-woman .
Quotes:
(1) Buck Gonzales (Fred Kohler) and Cleo Borden (Mae West) in Goin' to Town (1935):
-- Buck: ' You ain't scared of me because they say I'm a bad man? '
-- Cleo: ' I'm a good woman for a bad man .'
(2) Charley Partana (Jack Nicholson) confides to his ex-fiancée Maerose Prizzi (Anjelica Huston) his doubts about marrying Irene Walker (Heller) (Kathleen Turner) in Prizzi's Honor (1985):
-- Charley : ' Do what? Do I ice her? Do I marry her? Which one of these? '
-- Maerose: ' Marry her, Charley . Just because she's a thief and a hitter doesn't mean she's not a good woman in all the other departments .'
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