bawd
pronunciation
How to pronounce bawd in British English:
UK [bɔ:d]
How to pronounce bawd in American English:
US [bɔd]
-
- Noun:
- a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
Word Origin
- bawd (n.)
- 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; compare 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
- 1. Is she a bawd that she should bargain ?
- 2. These are , as some infamous bawd or whore should praise a matron ; what could hurt her more ?
- 3. The painted bawd and her innocent daughter were particularly appreciated when they removed their wigs and revealed themselves to be men .