she pro EDD ~ 3 s cties and So & Do Notes & Queries vi, for sense 2. See also HE.
1 A substitute word, under strong stress, for various objects and mechanical contrivances.
1895 J A Folklore viii, 32 Every object is spoken of as either masculine or feminine, and has either 'he'or 'she' applied to it. [1929] MCCAWLEY 24 "My Son Jarge": And now the wind she's blowing strong, / And I wonder what's keeping my son Jarge so long. 1931 Am Speech vi, 291 'She' is as often used in the same indefinite sense [as 'he'], for example: 'Put she in a bag,' referring to a struggling fish. P 148-64 Of a stopped watch: 'I'll break she up one of these days.' P 148-75 After completing a difficult repair job, an expression of satisfaction: 'That's she.' 1977 Nfld Qtly Winter, p. 17 But the first hour we hauled in the log, and he registered three miles. So the next hour we hauled him in again, and she's got another three miles... We done that for three hours.
2 A feminine substitute word uttered with strong stress after any verb (including be) or preposition.
[1875] 1887 Fisheries of U S Sec iv, p. 19 'I's took no notice to she.' 1904 Harper's cviii, 858 'I 'low I'd know where she were to, an I were skipper o' she!' 1964 BLONDAHL (ed) 111 "Down by Jim Long's Stage": Young man you wants me daughter / But you never will have she! T 22-64 And that girl, they never found—we never found she that night. 1965 LEACH (ed) 75 "Bold Princess Royal": She ripped him and she stripped him till she tore him in three, / Because he had murdered her baby and she. 1979 POTTLE 14 'Don't vote for she. She's not for he.'
3 Comb she-moon: crescent-shaped moon in a horizontal position, believed to be a weather sign; cp HE-MOON.
C 75-132 A moon upside down was called a 'she' moon which was a sign of fine weather. P 123-75 When it was lyin 'flat on its back' the moon was called a 'she-moon.
she var: balsam fir. See also MAIDEN FIR and VAR.
C 66-10 In the spring of the year you need a cleaning out. The best thing is to get the tops of the 'she var' or female fir tree and boil them and drink the juice.
