bastardy
Americannoun
-
the state or condition of being a bastard; illegitimacy.
-
the act of begetting a bastard.
noun
Etymology
Origin of bastardy
1400–50; late Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French bastardie. See bastard, -y 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Bracton does have a lot to say about monsters, duels, bastardy, concubines, sturgeon “and other royal fish,” the “pillory and the ducking-stool," and "a judgment with infamy.”
From Washington Post • May 9, 2022
That in heraldry, a bend sinister indicates bastardy.
From New York Times • Dec. 19, 2019
Woven into the fabric of complex New York City is the scarlet thread of bastardy which Dr. Ruth Reed of Indiana University has been unraveling for three years.
From Time Magazine Archive
This is the young Arkady, illegitimate son of an aristocrat named Versilov, reared in loneliness in a series of boarding schools, and fiercely aware of his bastardy.
From Time Magazine Archive
Has society cast them from its bosom; was I not born in bastardy?
From Captain Kyd (Vol 1 of 2) or, The Wizard of the Sea by Ingraham, Jonathon Holt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
