PRUDE, PRUDERY, PRUDISH, PRUDISHLY, PRUDISHNESS
ADJECTIVES
► GRUNDYISH prudish → 1883
► MEEDISH of a man: effeminate; of a woman: prudish → Bk1905 Eng. dial.
► MIM prim, demure; affectedly modest or shy; prudish; primly silent or reticent → 1641 Sc. & Eng. dial.
► MIMSEY prim, prudish → 1880 Eng. dial.
► NICE-NELLIE ► NICE-NELLY prudish, puritanical → 1943 sl.
► PRISSY prim, prudish, overly modest, precise, over-particular → 1895 Amer. dial.
► PUDIBUND modest, bashful, prudish → 1656
► WOWSERISH like a ‘wowser’; prudish, very puritanical → 1906 Aust. sl.
► WOWSERISTIC prudish, puritanical → 1907 Aust. sl.
► WOWSERY like a ‘wowser’; prudish; very puritanical → c1925 Aust. sl.
ADVERBS
► MIMLIE primly, prudishly → Bk1905 Sc.
NOUNS
► MIMNESS prudishness, primness → Bk1905 Eng. dial.
► NICE-NELLYISM prudishness, excessive gentility, puritanical behaviour or attitudes → 1935 sl.
► PRIMOSITY a state of primness, prudery → a1839 humorous usage, obs.
► WOWSERISM prudishness; the characteristic behaviour of a ‘wowser’ → 1904 Aust. sl.
► WOWSING prudishness, religiosity → 1900s Aust. sl.
NOUNS – PERSON
► FAUX-PRUDE a man who simulates prudishness → 1676 obs.
► HAIR-SHIRT a prude → 1940s US teen sl.
► MONA LIZARD a prude → 1940s US teen sl.
► MR. CLEAN an obsessively neat and prudish man → 1960s US sl.
► NUN a prude, a woman who is uninterested in sex → 1989 sl.
► PRIM an excessively formal or precise person; a prude → 1699 obs.
► PRUNE a prudish, scholarly person → c1900 Amer. sl.
► WOWSER an excessively puritanical or prudish person → 1900 Aust. & NZ sl.