butch

Etymology

Originally, it was probably used as an abbreviation of butcher. Later, in the 1940s, the sense “masculine lesbian” developed.

adj

1. (slang, originally Polari) Very masculine, with a masculine appearance or attitude.
   There, look, Mr. Horne! Vada that great butch lucoddy! 1967, Barry Took, Marty Feldman, Round the Horne, spoken by Sandy (Kenneth Williams)
   Nor can I credit that a — to put it crudely — proud bisexual butch Italian — albeit one lonely, poor, emotional and without strong will — which Giovanni is shown to be in the earlier part of the book, should become, in a mere matter of months, and as the result of any happening, the venal hysterical fairy that he does. 1979, Colin MacInnes, Out of the way: later essays
   Then I started going out with different kinds of women, and I started feeling more like I wanted to be more butch. […] I feel much more butch than I feel femme. 1998, Kath Weston, Render Me, Gender Me: Lesbians Talk Sex, Class, Color, Nation, Studmuffins, Columbia University Press
   The process of appreciating a butch aesthetic may be even more complex for bisexual butch women. In contrast to lesbian butches who may date only within a butch-femme community, bisexual butch women may be more likely to […] In comparison to butch bisexual women, it may be easier for femme bisexual women to locate male and female dating partners […] 2007, Beth A. Firestein, Becoming Visible: Counseling Bisexuals Across the Lifespan, Columbia University Press, page 305
   More of the rotten responses I receive about being a bisexual butch woman come from other bisexuals, particularly men, who don't want to deal with any woman who is not some Barbie doll standard of femininity. 2014, Naomi S Tucker, Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions, Routledge, page 186
   "Faye got wicked buff and has a super butch haircut and it is hot as shit." "It's okay, babe. We can ogle her together." 2016, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), Number 3154: Coupling

noun

1. (slang, LGBT, countable) A lesbian who appears masculine or acts in a masculine manner.
   Coming out appeals to the narcissistic pleasure of presenting to another a finished image of ourselves, which they return to us in exactly the same form: [someone tells] you [they are] a bisexual butch, and you confirm it. But instead, it seems all too likely – especially, perhaps, for bisexuals, whose claims to identity always need that much more proof – that no such mirror-image will be returned. 1997, Bi Academic Intervention, Bisexual Imaginary: Representation, Identity, and Desire, A&C Black, page 30, quoting Jo Eadie