Bawd Definition

bôd
bawds
noun
bawds
A woman who keeps a brothel; a madam.
American Heritage
A person, now esp. a woman, who keeps a brothel; madam.
Webster's New World
A woman prostitute.
American Heritage
A prostitute.
Webster's New World

(now archaic or historical) A person who keeps a house of prostitution, or procures women for prostitution; a procurer, a madame.

Wiktionary
adjective

(obsolete) Joyous; riotously gay.

Wiktionary
verb

(archaic) To procure women for lewd purposes.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Bawd

Noun

Singular:
bawd
Plural:
bawds

Origin of Bawd

  • From Middle English bawde, baude, noun form of Old French baud (“bold, lively, jolly, gay”), from Old Low Frankish *bald (“bold, proud”), from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“strong, bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē- (“to inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old High German bald (“bold, bright”), Old English beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong”). More at bold.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English probably from Old French baud merry, licentious from Old Saxon bald bold, merry bhel-2 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Bawd Is Also Mentioned In

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to bawd using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

bawd