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defloration

[def-luh-rey-shuh n, dee-fluh-]
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noun
  1. the act of deflowering.
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Origin of defloration

1350–1400; Middle English defloracioun < Old French defloracion < Late Latin dēflōrātiōn- (stem of dēflōrātiō) a plucking of flowers, equivalent to dēflōrāt(us) (past participle of dēflōrāre to deflower) + -iōn- -ion
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for defloration

Historical Examples

  • Why are there no external symptoms of defloration, nor any pathognomick of the loss of virginity but a big belly?

    Three Hours after Marriage

    John Gay

  • Watts, V. M. Growth and fruiting responses to pruning and defloration of tomato plants.

    The Tomato

    Paul Work

  • The extreme psychic importance of the manner in which the act of defloration is accomplished is strongly emphasized by Adler.

  • Martineau118 reports cases in which defloration had been effected at the age of nine or ten years.

  • The lust of fornication is more grievous, as it verges to the desire of varieties and of defloration.

British Dictionary definitions for defloration

defloration

noun
  1. the act of deflowering
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Word Origin

C15: from Late Latin dēflorātiō; see de-, flower
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 defloration

n.

late 14c., "culling of the finest passages from books," from Old French desfloracion (14c.), from Latin deflorationem "plucking of flowers," also "taking of (a woman's) virginity," noun of action from past participle stem of deflorare (see deflower). Cf. also anthology. Also used in Middle English with reference to virginity from c.1400.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper