bawdry

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for bawdry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Noun

bawdry (countable and uncountable, plural bawdries)

The practice of procuring women for the gratification of lust.
Illicit intercourse; fornication.
Obscenity; filthy, unchaste language.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IV, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, London: A[ndrew] Millar, OCLC 928184292, book VII:
  
  […] for the conversation (if it may be called so) was seldom such as could entertain a lady. It consisted chiefly of hallowing, singing, relations of sporting adventures, b—d—y, and abuse of women, and of the government.

References

bawdry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

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