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lewd

adj
/ljuːd/

Etymology

From Middle English lewed, lewd, leued (“unlearned, lay, lascivious”), from Old English lǣwede (“unlearned, ignorant, lay”), of uncertain origin. Formally similar to a derivative of the past participle of Old English lǣwan (“to reveal, betray”) in the sense of "exposed as being unlearned" or "easily betrayed, clueless", from Proto-West Germanic *lāwijan, from Proto-Germanic *lēwijaną (“to betray”), from *lēwą (“an opportunity, cause”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēw- (“to leave”). If so, then cognate with Old High German gilāen, firlāen (“to betray”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galēwjan, “to give over, betray”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐍅 (lēw, “an opportunity, cause”). Or, according to the OED, probably from Vulgar Latin *laigo-, from Late Latin lāicus (“of the people”), from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós).

  1. derived from λαϊκός
  2. derived from lāicus — “of the people”
  3. derived from *laigo-✻
  4. derived from *lēw-✻ — “to leave”
  5. derived from *lēwijaną✻ — “to betray”
  6. derived from *lāwijan✻
  7. derived from lǣwan — “to reveal, betray”
  8. inherited from lǣwede — “unlearned, ignorant, lay”
  9. inherited from lewed

Definitions

  1. Lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.

  2. Lay

    Lay; not clerical.

    • So these great clerks their little wisdom show / To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they.

  3. Uneducated.

    • My ſcoles are not for unthriftes untaught, / For frantick faitours half mad and half ſtraught; / But my learning is of another degree / To taunt theim like liddrons, lewde as thei bee.
  4. ›+ 6 more definitions

    1. Vulgar, common

      Vulgar, common; typical of the lower orders.

      • But the Jews, which believed not, […] took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, […] and assaulted the house of Jason.
      • Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief.

    2. Base, vile, reprehensible.

    3. A sexually suggestive image, particularly one which does not involve full nudity.

      • […] also put it, he learned “the difference between nudes and lewds."

    4. To express lust

      To express lust; to behave in a lewd manner.

      • "Well then,” dropping her bathrobe, lewding her lips, “how 'bout some lovee?”
      • Now, the men could just have been watching the unusual APC running on the road, or just lewding at the women.
      • Each one lusting and lewding themselves - fighting against the spirit of change.

    5. To sexualize a character, especially in a fan illustration.

    6. Alternative form of lude (“take the drug quaalude”).

      • Babbs, after many days of glumming in his Purina Chow redoubt, strolls over, lewding out, “Hi, Je-e-e-ed!” to Kesey's three-year-old son.
      • I was just lewding around, fucking furiously, drinking and doping and daring the devil.
      • Once lewded-out. I sampled the bourbon, then somebody suggested I take five more hits.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at lewd. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01lewd02rude03civility04polite05polished06refined07vulgarity08obscene

A definitional loop anchored at lewd. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at lewd

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

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