bawdry
Americannoun
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Archaic. lewdness; obscenity; bawdiness.
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Obsolete.
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the business of a prostitute.
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illicit intercourse; fornication.
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noun
Etymology
Origin of bawdry
First recorded in 1350–1400, bawdry is from the Middle English word bawdery. See bawd, -ery
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.
In Britain, Monty Python's Flying Circus tossed music-hall bawdry into a Dada format, and at home National Lampoon updated sick humor with a stinging Wasp edge.
From Time Magazine Archive
It's movie analysis with a serrated edge; film criticism as stand-up bawdry; intellectual improvisation that soars into the highest form of word jazz.
From Time Magazine Archive
The DAE's weakness in unprinted language may be connected with a reluctance to include unprintable language, for the great U.S. contributions to invective and bawdry are gravely slighted.
From Time Magazine Archive
Its bawdry is innocent, its humor earthy, its love songs are unselfconsciously sentimental.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nothing but downright bawdry: Sirrah, rascal, Is this an age for ribaldry in verse; When every gentleman in town speaks it With so much better grace, than thou canst write it?
From The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 02 by Scott, Walter, Sir
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.
