sheila, noun
- Origin:
- Australian and New Zealand EnglishShow more Probably transferred uses of Australian and New Zealand English sheila girl, woman.
1. obsolete. slang. The girlfriend of a ducktail or tsotsi.
1963 L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 81The ducktail girls are also known as ‘quacktails’, ‘sheilahs’, and ‘pony-tails’.
1977 P.C. Venter Soweto 40A sheila is a tsotsi’s girlfriend in more ways than one...In the Chicago of the speak-easy days they would have called her a gangster’s moll. She is the equivalent of a groupie, one of those bright-eyed and slack-mouthed girls who slavishly follow pop-singers.
2. colloquial. With initial capital(s). [See quotation 1974.] In the phrase Sheila’s day, also Sheila-day, especially among domestic workers, Thursday, the day on which many women in domestic service are off duty, or have an afternoon off. Also attributive.
1974 in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.5 No.1, 8A woman is a goose..or sheila (cf. in Soweto, Thursday is Sheila-day, day off for the nannies).
1987 D. Tugwana in True Love Mar. 44The streets bustle with black women dressed in their ‘Sheila’s day’ best, walking, talking, laughing, sharing jokes in groups on the pavements...Those employers who can’t afford the minimum wage will be asked to compromise by giving extra days off, over and above the traditional ‘Sheila’s day’.
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