Note 188 — GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE.
Reading edition
An old trot or trat, Dr Grey says, signifies a decrepid old woman or an old drab. In which sense it is used in Gawin Douglas' Virgil, B. iv. p. 96, 97—
"Out on the old trat agit wyffe or dame."
And p. 122, 39:
"Thus saith Dido, and the tother with that, Hyit or furth with slow pase like ane trot."
And Shakspeare: "Why give her gold enough, and marry him to a puppet, aglet baby, or an old trot with ne'er a tooth in her head" (Taming of the Shrew, act i., sc. 5; Critical Notes on Shakspeare, Vol. I. p. 118.) It is also used by Churchyard—
"Away young Frie that gives leawd counsel, nowe, Awaie old trotts, that sets young flesh to sale," &c. —Challenge, 1583, p. 250.
And by Gascoigne:
"Goe: that gunne pouder consume the old trotte!" —Supposes, act iii., sc. 5. [Hazlitt's edit. i. 230.]
Again, in Nash's "Lenten Stuff," 1599: "A cage or pigeon house, roomsome enough to comprehend her, and the toothless trot her nurse, who was her only chat mate and chamber maid," &c.
See also Mr Steevens's Notes on Shakspeare, Vol. II. p. 93.