" sheers.Garth’sDispensat.2. A reproachful name for a dark complexion. Laura, to his lady, was but a kitchen-wench; Dido a dowdy; Cleopatra a gipsy; Helen and Hero hildings and harlots.Shakespeare’sRomeo and Juliet.3. A "

― Samuel Johnson , A Dictionary of the English Language (Complete and Unabridged in Two Volumes), Volume One