Bawd

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /bɔːd/
• US enPR: bôd, IPA: /bÉ”d/
• Rhymes: -ɔːd

Alternative forms

• baud
• baude

Origin

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.

Full definition of bawd

Noun

1. (now archaic or historical) A person who keeps a house of prostitution, or procures women for prostitution; a procurer, a madame.
• 1717, Ned Ward, :As Whores decay'd and past their Labours,
  Turn Bawds, and so assist their Neighbours.
• 2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin 2013, p. 76:Compared with their opponents, bawds and their associates increasingly had deeper pockets and greater confidence in manipulating the law.
2. A lewd person.

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Joyous; riotously gay.

Verb

1. (archaic) To procure women for lewd purposes.----