girlfriend

noun

1. A female partner in an unmarried romantic relationship.

   “Marc went to the park with his girlfriend and watched the sunset with her.”

   “I was playing the acoustic guitar and my girlfriend was playing the drums.”

   “A gentleman did not like his girl-friend to have to undergo so much unpleasant questioning.”

   “Want to pick some flowers, doctor? When a man visits an old girlfriend she usually expects something like that.”

   “Former Playboy Bunnies Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson, whose lives as Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends were featured in “The Girls Next Door” reality show, are feuding after Madison shared the claims of their less-than-glamorous life in the Playboy Mansion.”

2. (dated)A female friend of a woman or girl.

   “Mary always enjoyed hanging out with her girlfriend Jessica.”

   “She's a very special girl (The kind of girl you want to know) / From her head down to her toenails (Down to her feet, yeah) / And she'll wait for me at backstage with her girlfriends / In a limousine (Long and black and shining bright)”

   “My girl friend Deb told me she was sittin' up in the living room, her and Gary. And this Red O'Malley kid liked Gary at the time. She's—I'd say she was jealous, that's what I'd say she was. And she says, "Go on Gary, she's a whore. You can do whatever you want to her." […] An' I grabbed her by the hair, and I said, "If I ever hear you callin' any of my girlfriends a whore, you're gonna really find your ass all over the ground."”

   “[…] for the past 45 years, Neri had sat outside with her girlfriends Fotini and Eleni, two school friends who, having grown old in their company, Neri loved dearly.”

3. A fellow gay man, especially a friend as opposed to a sexual partner.

   “[Tim:] james huh? my lover carlos's best girlfriend is named james. [James:] yes, i know. i AM your lover carlos's best girlfriend james.”

4. A term of address for a female friend or among gay men.

   “[Hanque:] girlfriend - how'r we doing? [Doug:] hi hanque, i'd like a capuccino and some lobster bisque.. [Caption:] (friendliness with the waitstaff is a good sign)”

verb

1. (ambitransitive, informal, rare)To be a girlfriend to (someone).

   “I was girlfriended during the past two years by a woman who worked an average job, and while we never lived together the assumption among our friends was we'd get married one day.”

   “Most Black women don't spend their time sitting around and complaining about bm/wf and "girlfriending" each other.”

   “If money were a person, she’d be girlfriending with Oprah, sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom, and noshing with the Pope.”

   “She was a superwoman, she thought. […] A working, mothering, girlfriending, housekeeping superhero! You see—it could be done!”

2. (ambitransitive, informal, rare)To have (someone) as a girlfriend.

   “Back when I was single, I dated and girlfriended around quite a bit and found many responses to my VW buses.”

   “> How does one "girlfriend", anyway? By getting a girlfriend. The act of obtaining a girlfriend is called girlfriending. Example: "...so, I hit her with the wrench, and she passed out. When she woke up, I told her that when she had ORIGINALLY gotten up, I girlfriended her and then knocked her out again, and she must have amnesia. Presto! Instant girlfriend!"”

   “> first of all, where are you? i haven't seen a man in amb for a long time!!! […] err, working, girlfriending, generally running out of time.”

   “One day I wrote down all the girls I had serous^([sic]) chance of girlfriending them.”