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debauch

[dih-bawch]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to corrupt by sensuality, intemperance, etc.; seduce.
  2. to corrupt or pervert; sully: His honesty was debauched by the prospect of easy money.
  3. Archaic. to lead away, as from allegiance or duty.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to indulge in debauchery.
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noun
  1. a period of wanton or sensual self-indulgence.
  2. an uninhibited spree or party; orgy: a wild debauch.
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Origin of debauch

1585–95; < French débaucher to entice away from duty, debauch, Old French desbauchier to disperse, scatter, equivalent to des- dis-1 + -bauchier, derivative of bauc, bauch beam (< Germanic; see balcony, balk; compare French ébaucher to rough-hew); hence, presumably, to hew (beams) > to split, separate > to separate from work or duty
Related formsde·bauch·er, nounde·bauch·ment, noun
Can be confuseddebauch debouch

Synonyms

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1. See debase.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

libertinedegeneratescoundrelLothariocadravisher

Examples from the Web for debaucher

Historical Examples

  • The desires of a drunkard, a debaucher, are as strong after death as before.

    Ghosts I Have Seen

    Violet Tweedale

  • For he is said to be the debaucher of the wives of others; he is the shameless lover and ravisher of a beautiful boy.

    The City of God, Volume I

    Aurelius Augustine

  • What surprises me yet more is, that some would believe that Socrates was a debaucher of young men!

  • Happily they found not that pernicious bane which is alike the corrupter of private morals and the debaucher of nations.

British Dictionary definitions for debaucher

debauch

verb
  1. (when tr, usually passive) to lead into a life of depraved self-indulgence
  2. (tr) to seduce (a woman)
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noun
  1. an instance or period of extreme dissipation
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Derived Formsdebauchedly (dɪˈbɔːtʃɪdlɪ), adverbdebauchedness, noundebaucher, noundebauchery or debauchment, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Old French desbaucher to corrupt, literally: to shape (timber) roughly, from bauch beam, of Germanic origin
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

Word Origin and History for debaucher

debauch

v.

1590s, from Middle French débaucher "entice from work or duty," from Old French desbaucher "to lead astray," supposedly literally "to trim (wood) to make a beam" (from bauch "beam," from Frankish balk or some other Germanic source akin to English balk). A sense of "shaving" something away, perhaps, but the root is also said to be a word meaning "workshop," which gets toward the notion of "to lure someone off the job;" either way the sense evolution is unclear.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper