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jailbait

noun
/ˈd͡ʒeɪlbeɪt/

Etymology

From jail + bait, from the fact that statutory rape can result, for the adult committing it, in incarceration.

  1. derived from *bʰeyd-✻ — “to cleave, split, separate”
  2. derived from *baitō✻ — “that which is bitten, bait”
  3. derived from beita — “food, bait”
  4. inherited from bayte
  5. compounded as jailbait — “jail + bait”

Definitions

  1. A sexually mature person below, or appearing to be below, the legal age of consent, who…

    A sexually mature person below, or appearing to be below, the legal age of consent, who is regarded, usually by an adult, as being sexually attractive and/or seductive.

    • "The first time she modelled for Edward Weston, in March 1934, Charis Wilson knew she didn’t look good. At 20 she was “a piece of jailbait”, a mere child, especially with the stumpy plaits into which she sometimes twisted her hair."

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for jailbait. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA