lewd
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: lifestyle
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).
Inflected forms:
form: lewder
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: lewdest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: lewds
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: lewds
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: lewding
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: lewded
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: lewded
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.
pos: adj
examples: Onstage he was known for ricochet riffs on politics, social issues and cultural matters both high and low; tales of drug and alcohol abuse; lewd commentaries on relations between the sexes; and lightning-like improvisations on anything an audience member might toss at him.
gloss: Lay; not clerical.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: So these great clerks their little wisdom show / To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they.
gloss: Uneducated.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
gloss: Vulgar, common; typical of the lower orders.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
gloss: Base, vile, reprehensible.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
gloss: A sexually suggestive image, particularly one which does not involve full nudity.
pos: noun
examples: Nudes, lewds and smutty outhouse cards, although they can be bought in some of the rowdy joints, are a negligible percentage of the total, and are unobtainable in the chain stores, drugstores and travel stations which are the outlets for […]
[…] also put it, he learned “the difference between nudes and lewds."
gloss: To express lust; to behave in a lewd manner.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
slang
examples: "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.
gloss: To sexualize a character, especially in a fan illustration.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
Derived words: lewdity
lewdly
lewdness
lewdsome
lewdster
overlewd
unlewd
Translations: