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 badman? ' -- Cleo: ' I'm a good woman for a badman.'
(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.'