doxy

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒksi/

  Rhymes: -ɒksi

Etymology 1

Perhaps from Middle Dutch *doketje, diminutive of Middle Dutch docke (“a doll”), from Proto-Germanic *dokko (“something round”), related to *dukkǭ (“muscle, strength”). Cognate with Low German dokke (“doll”), Saterland Frisian dok, dokke (“a doll”), Swedish docka (“doll, puppet”).

Alternative forms

• doxie

Noun

doxy (plural doxies)

1. (archaic) A sweetheart; a prostitute or a mistress.

   Synonym: paramour

   Alternative form: doxie

   • 1907, Justin Huntly McCarthy, Needles and pins, page 82:

     He did not relish the apparition of that Katherine, for when it appeared it seemed to bring with it a brother shadow that wore ragged clothes and tangled hair and foul linen, that drank from any flagon and drabbed with any doxy, that slept in tavern angles through hours of drunkenness, a thing whose fingers pillaged, filched, and pilfered when and where they could, a creature that once he saw whenever he stared into a mirror.

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:

     Do you think the writer of Antony and Cleopatra, a passionate pilgrim, had his eyes in the back of his head that he chose the ugliest doxy in all Warwickshire to lie withal?

   • 1936, Anthony Bertram, Like the Phoenix:

     However, terrible as it may seem to the tall maiden sisters of J.P.'s in Queen Anne houses with walled vegetable gardens, this courtesan, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, street-walker, this trollop, this trull, this baggage, this hussy, this drab, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, demirep, demimondaine, this wanton, this fornicatress, this doxy, this concubine, this frail sister, this poor Queenie—did actually solicit me, did actually say 'coming home to-night, dearie' and my soul was not blasted enough to call a policeman.

   • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 328:

     So then, of course, he paid her in kind...the place is full of his doxies, open a closet at Allington and some wench falls out of it.

Derived terms

• arch doxy

Etymology 2

From -doxy in orthodoxy, heterodoxy, etc.

Noun

doxy (plural doxies)

1. (colloquial) A defined opinion.
   • 1759, William Warburton, letter to Lord Sandwich:

     Orthodoxy is my doxy; heterodoxy is another man's doxy.

Etymology 3

Clipping. From deoxy-.

Noun

doxy (uncountable)

1. (informal, pharmacology) Clipping of doxycycline.
   • 1996 May 7, Phyllis Mervine, “Re: Tetracycline”, in sci.med.diseases.lyme‎ (Usenet):

     I know one patient who couldn't take the tabs but could tolerate liquid doxy.

Etymology 4

Clipping of dachshund +‎ -y.

Noun

doxy (plural doxies)

1. (informal) A dachshund.

Alternative forms

• doxie

Etymology 5

Coined by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series as the name of a species of biting fairy, possibly originally from Etymology 1 or from Etymology 3 (doxycycline is used to treat various diseases caused by insect bites). Likely influenced by pixie.

Noun

doxy (plural doxies)

1. (fantasy) An aggressive creature similar to a fairy.
   • 2010 July 15, Justine Larbalestier, How to Ditch Your Fairy, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN, page 6:

     "Yeah, but she doesn't usually actively sabotage you."
     "No worries. I'm used to doxy fairies"

   • 2015 March 10, C.T. Adams, The Exile: Book One of the Fae, Tor Books, →ISBN, page 93:

     The doxies were everywhere. So he just kept swinging, feeling a shudder through his arm each time the racquet made contact with a scaly body. Despite his best efforts, two or three of the nasty, screeching things got close.

   • 2021 May 19, Sarah Biglow, Molly Zenk, Captivity The Complete Series: A Dystopian Shifter Fantasy Collection, Biglow & Zenk Fantasy Publishing:

     "And I'm a doxy not a fairy, you complete and utter fuckface."

   • 2022 October 11, Doug Moench, Aztec Ace: The Complete Collection, Dark Horse Comics, →ISBN, page 139:

     Trapped like this, the options are extremely pitiful and the damned doxies bite the way scorpions sting.

   • 2023 December 12, Claire Wilkins, Courting the Prince of Moonlit Shadows, eGlobal Creative Publishing Inc., →ISBN:

     A doxy messenger can outfly a pixie by five klicks in optimal conditions. They can span 40 klicks in a little over five hours. Though not particularly good in combat, doxies can turn invisible, kill with a kiss, and cause hallucinations if touched.

Anagrams

• oxyd