jane

plural janes

1. obsoleteA silver Genovese coin, first used in England in the 14th century.

   14th c, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Rime of Sire Thopas, The Canterbury Tales, 1793, A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, Volume 1, page 124, His robe was of chekelatoun, / That coste many a jane.

   1 more example

   Certes was but a common Courtisane, / Yet flat refusd to haue a do with mee, / Because I could not giue her many a Iane.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

plural janes

1. Alternative letter-case form of Jane, a woman.
2. alternativeAlternative spelling of jean.

   1 more example

   Ye miscellaneous, ignoble manufacturing individuals, ye have produced too much! We accuse you of making above two-hundred thousand shirts for the bare backs of mankind. Your trousers too, which you have made, of fustian, of cassimere, of Scotch-plaid, of jane, nankeen and woollen broadcloth, are they not manifold?

   1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. VII, Over-Production”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker)

3. A female client of a prostitute.

   The Swedish system, seemingly, does not target “janes” (female clients of sex workers).

   2014 March 4, Justin Ling, “Opposition parties shy away from sex-work debate”, in Xtra

plural Janes · alternative Jayne · alternative Jaine

1. A female given name from French, the standard feminine form of John since the 17th century.

   In the amended complaint, Carter is accused of raping the then-13-year-old Jane Doe at an afterparty for the MTV Video Music Awards in the year 2000.

   2024 December 14, Elizabeth Wagmeister, “Jay-Z says inconsistencies in rape accuser’s story proves her attorney was looking for ‘money and fame’”, in CNN

   4 more examples

   In latter years some of the better and nicer sort, misliking Joan, have mollified the name of Joan into Jane, as it may seem, for that Jane is never found in old Records; and as some will, never before the time of King Henry the eight.

   1605, William Camden, Remains Concerning Britain, John Russell Smith, published 1870, pages 103–104

   People will please their fancies, and every lady has favourite names. I myself have several, and they are mostly short and simple. Jane, that queenly name! Jane Seymour, Jane Grey, 'the noble Jane de Montford;' - - -

   1830, Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Fourth Series: Cottage Names

   "What I mean is," said Mrs. Riversedge, "that when I get maids with unsuitable names I call them Jane; they soon get used to it." "An excellent plan," said the aunt of Clovis coldly; "unfortunately I have got used to being called Jane myself. It happens to be my name."

   1912 Saki (H.H.Munro), The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope

   On some level, the filmmakers behind Monster Trucks must have recognized the ill fit of Till playing a teenager, because they cast Jane Levy, a 27-year-old who can pass for younger but not a decade younger, as Meredith, a nerdy classmate of Tripp’s who moons over him as she insists on making an appointment to tutor him in biology. […] Till is somewhere on the Hemsworth spectrum (more engaging than Liam; not as charismatic at Chris), but Levy is wholly charming as his enthusiastic sidekick.

   2017 January 12, Jesse Hassenger, “A literal monster truck is far from the stupidest thing about Monster Trucks”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 27 Jan 2017

2. A surname originating as a patronymic derived from a Middle English variant of John.

plural Janes · alternative jane · alternative Jayne · alternative Jaine

1. colloquialused as a placeholder name for any woman, especially a young working-class woman
2. slangA girlfriend.

   What happened to your regular Jane?

3. Alternative letter-case form of jane (“female client of a prostitute”).