bitch

Etymology

From Middle English biche, bicche, from Old English biċċe, from Proto-West Germanic *bikkjā, from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ (compare Norwegian bikkje (“dog”), Old Danish bikke), from *bikjaną (“to thrust, attack”) (compare Old Norse bikkja (“plunge into water”), Dutch bikken (“to hack”)). More at bicker.

noun

1. (dated or specialised, dog-breeding) A female dog or other canine, particularly a recent mother.
   My bitch just had puppies; they're so cute!
   All members of one breed, both dog and bitch, champion and nonchampion, are judged in a series of competitions until only one animal remains. 1953, LIFE, volume 34, number 6, page 110
2. (archaic, offensive) A promiscuous woman, slut, whore.
3. (vulgar, offensive) A despicable or disagreeable, aggressive person, usually a woman.
   Ann gossiped about me and mocked my work; sometimes she can be a real bitch!
4. (vulgar, offensive) A woman.
   Biggie, remember when I used to let you sleep on the couch, and beg the bitch to let you sleep in the house? 1996, “Hit 'Em Up”, in Tupac Shakur and the Outlawz (lyrics), Johnny "J" (music), Hit 'Em Up, performed by 2Pac, California: Death Row Records
   Niggas on my dick more than my bitches. 2003, “If I Can't”, in Curtis Jackson (lyrics), Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo (music), Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent, New York City: Shady Records
5. (vulgar, offensive) A man considered weak, effeminate, timid or pathetic in some way
   1. (LGBT, slang, derogatory) An obviously gay man.
6. (vulgar, offensive) A submissive person who does what others want; (prison slang) a man forced or coerced into a homoerotic relationship.
   Dude, don't be such a bitch. Assert yourself.
   You're so weak-willed with your girlfriend. You must be the real bitch in the relationship.
   1999 September 23, Chris Sheridan, “This House Is Freakin’ Sweet”, “Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater”, Family Guy, season 2, episode 1, Fox Broadcasting Company Now that you're stinking rich, we'd gladly be your bitch.
7. (obsolete, informal, of a man) A playful variation on dog (sense "man").
8. (humorous, vulgar, colloquial, used with a possessive pronoun) Friend.
   What’s up, my bitch?
   How my bitches been doin'?
9. (vulgar, colloquial) A complaint, especially when the complaint is unjustified.
10. (colloquial, vulgar) A difficult or confounding problem.
    Level 5 was a real bitch, don’t you think?
    That's a bitch of a question.
11. (colloquial, vulgar, card games) A queen playing card, particularly the queen of spades in the card game of hearts.
    Coordinate term: butcher
12. (vulgar, figurative) Something unforgiving and unpleasant.
    Karma's a bitch.
13. (vulgar, informal, slang) Place; situation
    I'm 'bout to get up outta this bitch.
14. (UK, obsolete, university slang) Tea (the drink).
    […] seldom gets "a little the worse for liquor," gives no swell parties, runs very little into debt, takes his cup of bitch at night, and goes quietly to bed, and thus he passes his time in a way a Varmint man would despise. 1824, Gradus Ad Cantabrigiam: Or, New University Guide to the Academical Customs, and Colloquial Or Cant Terms Peculiar to the University of Cambridge, Observing Wherein It Differs from Oxford, page 131
15. (chess, slang, vulgar, offensive) A queen.

verb

1. (vulgar, intransitive) To behave or act as a bitch.
2. (vulgar, intransitive) To criticize spitefully, often for the sake of complaining rather than in order to have the problem corrected.
   All you ever do is bitch about the food I cook for you!
   I ain't bitching 'bout things that aren't in my grasp Just trying to hold steady on the righteous path. 2008, Patterson Hood, The Righteous Path
3. (vulgar, transitive) To spoil, to ruin.
   'You're a Franco-maniac…You're thought to be a French agent…That's what's bitching your career!' 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not… (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 162
   "Shy Smile didn't pay off." "I know. The jockey bitched it. So what?" 1956, Ian Fleming, Diamonds are Forever, published 1965, page 100