MERKIN in the OED

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Fri, Nov 08, 2002 at 09:50:18PM -0500, RonButters at aol.com wrote:
> I checked the OED online entry for MERKIN today for an exercise in my History
> of English class and was puzzled as to why the definition that is given is
> 'artificial vagina'. The cites--from the delightful 1660 want-ad ("Lost in
> Covent Garden, One Merkin") to the entry from the 1970s clearly indicate that
> a MERKIN is hair, not simulated flesh.

The main definition is, in fact, artificial hair for the female genitalia.
the 'artificial vagina' sense is given after an "Also", and is less common,
but it exists; the R. F. Burton example attests it.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED