Lewdness

Lewdness
Lewd Lewd (l[=u]d), a. [Compar. {Lewder} (-[~e]r); superl. {Lewdest}.] [{OE}. lewed, lewd, lay, ignorant, vile, AS. l[=ae]wed laical, belonging to the laity.] 1. Not clerical; laic; laical; hence, unlearned; simple. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

For if a priest be foul, on whom we trust, No wonder is a lewed man to rust. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

So these great clerks their little wisdom show To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they. --Sir. J. Davies. [1913 Webster]

2. Belonging to the lower classes, or the rabble; idle and lawless; bad; vicious. [Archaic] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

But the Jews, which believed not, . . . took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, . . . and assaulted the house of Jason. --Acts xvii. 5. [1913 Webster]

Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief. --Southey. [1913 Webster]

3. Given to the promiscuous indulgence of lust; dissolute; lustful; libidinous. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

4. Suiting, or proceeding from, lustfulness; involving unlawful sexual desire; as, lewd thoughts, conduct, or language. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Lustful; libidinous; licentious; profligate; dissolute; sensual; unchaste; impure; lascivious; lecherous; rakish; debauched. -- {Lewd"ly}, adv. -- {Lewd"ness}, n. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • lewdness — index debauchery, obscenity, perversion, pornography, vice Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • lewdness — The unlawful indulgence of lust; sexual impurity; gross indecency with respect to the sexual relation. State v Rayburn, 170 Iowa 514, 153 NW 59. The common law offense of lewdness means open and public indecency, and in order to amount to an… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • Lewdness —    (Acts 18:14), villany or wickedness, not lewdness in the modern sense of the word. The word lewd is from the Saxon, and means properly ignorant, unlearned, and hence low, vicious (Acts 17:5) …   Easton's Bible Dictionary

  • lewdness — Gross and wanton indecency in sexual relations so notorious as to tend to corrupt community s morals. Hensley v. City of Norfolk, 218 N.E.2d 735, 740, 216 Va. 369. Licentiousness; that form of immorality which has relation to sexual impurity.… …   Black's law dictionary

  • lewdness — Gross and wanton indecency in sexual relations so notorious as to tend to corrupt community s morals. Hensley v. City of Norfolk, 218 N.E.2d 735, 740, 216 Va. 369. Licentiousness; that form of immorality which has relation to sexual impurity.… …   Black's law dictionary

  • lewdness — lewd ► ADJECTIVE ▪ crude and offensive in a sexual way. DERIVATIVES lewdly adverb lewdness noun. ORIGIN originally in the sense «belonging to the laity», later «belonging to the common people, vulgar»: from Old English …   English terms dictionary

  • lewdness — noun see lewd …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • lewdness — See lewdly. * * * …   Universalium

  • lewdness — noun The property of being lewd …   Wiktionary

  • lewdness — Synonyms and related words: Rabelaisianism, X rated movie, animality, bawdiness, bawdry, blue movie, carnality, clitoromania, concupiscence, dirt, dirtiness, dirty movie, erotic art, erotic literature, eroticism, eroticomania, erotographomania,… …   Moby Thesaurus

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