Bawdiness


indecent; lewd; obscene:
another of his bawdy stories.
coarse or indecent talk or writing; bawdry; bawdiness:
a collection of Elizabethan bawdy.
Contemporary Examples

The show is roughly at the same level of raunchiness—or even its tamer sister, bawdiness—as a mid-rent gay club.
And The Escort of The Year Is… Backstage at The Sex Oscars Scott Bixby March 23, 2014

And despite the bawdiness of the soundtrack and script, Grease is light and breezy enough to cross generational gaps.
John Travolta: Sex Symbol Tricia Romano July 21, 2010

adjective bawdier, bawdiest
(of language, plays, etc) containing references to sex, esp to be humorous
noun
obscenity or eroticism, esp in writing or drama
adj.

late 14c., “soiled, dirty, filthy,” from bawd + -y (2). Meaning “lewd” is from 1510s, from notion of “pertaining to or befitting a bawd;” usually of language (originally to talk bawdy).

Bawdy Basket, the twenty-third rank of canters, who carry pins, tape, ballads and obscene books to sell. [Grose, “Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,” 1785]

Related: Bawdily; bawdiness.

Read Also:

  • Bawdry

    Archaic. lewdness; obscenity; bawdiness. Obsolete. the business of a prostitute. illicit intercourse; fornication. Historical Examples It is also noteworthy that, for the period, the bawdry is “cut” to the lowest limit. Early English Dramatists–Recently Recovered “Lost” Tudor Plays with some others Various He was primed with the letter-accounts; he made her dot her amorous I’s […]

  • Bawds

    a woman who maintains a brothel; madam. a prostitute. Archaic. a procuress. Historical Examples If your worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds. Measure for Measure William Shakespeare All that seems wanting to complete the list is that we should turn pimps and bawds. The […]

  • Bawdyhouse

    a brothel. noun an archaic word for brothel

  • Bawdy house

    a brothel. Historical Examples A more likely cause is the second story in the Letter, the visit to the bawdy house. A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope Colley Cibber That a saloon with a sign reading “Family Entrance” on its side door invariably has a bawdy house upstairs. The American Credo George Jean […]

  • Bawk

    bawk An Awk-like pattern-matching language by Bob Brodt, distributed with MINIX. (1994-11-28)


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