bawd

nounprostitute

Synonyms for bawd

noun prostitute

Word Origin & History

a complicated word of uncertain history. First attested late 15c., "lewd person" (of either sex; since c.1700 applied only to women), probably from baude-strote "procurer of prostitutes" (mid-14c.), which may be from Middle English bawde (adj.) "merry, joyous," from Old French baud "gay, licentious" (from Frankish bald "bold" or some such Germanic source). It would not be the first time a word meaning "joyous" had taken on a sexual sense. The sense evolution shading from "bold" to "lewd" is not difficult; cf. Old French baudise "ardor, joy, elation, act of boldness, presumption;" baudie "elation, high spirits," fole baudie "bawdry, shamelessness." The Old French word also is the source of French baudet "donkey," in Picardy dialect "loose woman."

The second element in baude-strote would be trot "one who runs errands," or Germanic *strutt (see strut). But OED doubts all this. There was an Old French baudestrote, baudetrot of the same meaning (13c.), and this may be the direct source of Middle English baude-strote. The obsolete word bronstrops "procuress," frequently found in Middleton's comedies, probably is an alteration of baude-strote.

Example Sentences for bawd

What, have I been bawd to his designs, his property only, a baiting place?

The heroine is Celestina, a bawd who helped them out of their troubles.

His soul is the bawd to his body, and those that assist him in this nature the nearest to it.

A bawd of eleven years continuance, may it please your honour.

He cannot plead his estimation with you; he hath been a bawd.

Wells, though acquitted of the felony, was punished as a bawd.

Then I will say it: for the duchess; for the arch-liar and bawd!

Also, he spreads easy-money all along the sporting pike from baseball to the bawd.

In the former case the bawd was the principal, in the latter the women.

In that work the capture of a virgin named Tarsia by a bawd is described.

bawd

Synonyms for bawd

madam

mesdames

moll

bawd

Synonyms for bawd

More words related to bawd

hooker

madam

mesdames

moll