bawd

[ bawd ]

/ bɔd /

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noun

a woman who maintains a brothel; madam.

a prostitute.

Archaic. a procuress.

Nearby words

bavarois, baveux, bavin, bawbee, bawcock, bawd, bawdry, bawdy, bawdyhouse, bawl, bawl out

Origin of bawd

1325–75; Middle English bawde, noun use of Middle French baude, feminine of baud jolly, dissolute < West Germanic; compare Old English bald bold

Can be confused

baud bawd

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bawd

If I go out into the street and strike down a bawd—a thing lower than the lowest animal and more noxious—I hang.
The Orchard of Tears|Sax Rohmer
See if the air of this place has not inclined Secret to be a bawd already!
A Select Collection of Old English Plays|Robert Dodsley
Hastily throwing a robe around her person she sought the room of the yarité—the bawd of the house.
The Yotsuya Kwaidan or O'Iwa Inari|James S. De Benneville
The heroine is Celestina, a bawd who helped them out of their troubles.
Folkways|William Graham Sumner

The bawd (yarité), aroused and passing, saw the shadow of the raised dagger.
Bakemono Yashiki (The Haunted House)|James S. De Benneville

British Dictionary definitions for bawd

bawd

/ (bɔːd) /

noun archaic

a person who runs a brothel, esp a woman

a prostitute

Word Origin for bawd

C14: shortened from Old French baudetrot, from baude feminine of baud merry + trot one who runs errands; compare Old High German bald bold

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012