debauch
/dɪˈbɔːt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.70 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An individual act of debauchery.
noun
An orgy.
Example Sentences
- "[E]v'ry twentieth pace / Conducts the unguarded noſe to ſuch a whiff / Of ſtale debauch forth-iſſuing from the ſtyes / That law has licenſed, as makes temp'rance reel."
- "I rose by candle-light, and consumed, in the intensest application, the hours which every other individual of our party wasted in enervating slumbers, from the hesternal dissipation or debauch."
- "As I supported him towards his lodgings I could see that he was not only suffering from the effects of a recent debauch, but that a long course of intemperance had affected his nerves and his brain."
- "Greene died of a debauch; and Marlowe, the gracer of tragedians, perished in an ignominious brawl."
- "[T]he room probably was one which he actually used for opium debauches."
- "The flowers, oppressive to the eyes, blazed with not a petal stirring, in a debauch of sun."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des- Old French bauche Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Old French -ier Old French desbauchier Middle French desbaucherbor. English debauch 1590s, from Middle French desbaucher (“entice from work or duty”), from Old French desbauchier (“to lead astray”), from des- + bauch (“beam”), from Frankish *balkō, from Proto-Germanic *balkô, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, plank”); latter origin of balk. Evolution of sense unclear; may be literally “to shave/trim wood to make a beam” or may be “to leave/lure someone from a workshop”, Frankish *balkō perhaps also meaning “workshop”. Possible corruption by way of Anglicised French term bord (“edge, curb”): curb crawling as a synonym for prostitution. Parallels in modern German: Bordsteinschwalbe (“prostitute”, literally “Curb-stone-swallow”). English words bawd, bawdiness may be similarly connected.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: desbaucher, desbauchier, *balkō, *balkô, *bʰelǵ-