Bawdy


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

Note the bawdy pun in the first example, by which the speaker implies that she came last night.
Beauty and Subversion in the Secret Poems of Afghan Women Daniel Bosch April 5, 2014

Chelsea Handler’s bawdy talk show is the perfect antidote to the boys’ club of late night and the shrill biddies of daytime.
Chelsea Handler: Leno’s Naughty Rival Caryn James April 28, 2009

Today: tainted milk, bawdy Palin jokes, and compensation for Lehman execs.
The Week in Apologies Adam Hanft October 9, 2008

More than bawdy, though, The Ball adds a familiar unpretentiousness to trendy locales like Tao, Lavo, The Park, and Dream Hotel.
The Craziest Date Night for Single Jews, Where Mistletoe Is Ditched for Shots Emily Shire December 25, 2014

As Michael has been dealing with his latest setback, cancer, Kirk has been cheering him on, sending him bawdy emails.
The Troubled Douglas Dynasty Nicole LaPorte September 7, 2010

Historical Examples

The setting is a ranch of Mexican tradition in the lower border country of Texas, also saloons and bawdy houses of border towns.
Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest J. Frank Dobie

His mirth is bawdy jests with the wenches, and, behind the door, bawdy earnest.
Microcosmography John Earle

I will sing a bawdy song, sir, because your verjuice face is melancholy, to make liquor go down glib.
The Mermaid Series. Edited by H. Ellis. The best plays of the old dramatists. Thomas Dekker. Edited, with an introduction and notes by Ernest Rhys. Thomas Dekker

As he went out, however, the conjurer paid him a most bawdy compliment.
La Ronge Journal, 1823 George Nelson

Prostitutes were expelled from the city because the street with their bawdy houses had become very noisy.
Our Legal Heritage, 5th Ed. S. A. Reilly

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:

  • Bawdily

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

  • 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 […]

  • 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


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