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Webster 1913 Edition

Debauch

De-bauch′

,
Verb.
T.
&
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Debauched
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Debauching
.]
[F.
débaucher
, prob. originally, to entice away from the workshop; pref.
dé-
(L.
dis-
or
de
) + OF.
bauche
,
bauge
, hut, cf. F.
bauge
lair of a wild boar; prob. from G. or Icel., cf. Icel.
bālkr
. See
Balk
,
Noun.
]
To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce;
as, to
debauch
one’s self by intemperance; to
debauch
a woman; to
debauch
an army.
Learning not
debauched
by ambition.
Burke.
A man must have got his conscience thoroughly
debauched
and hardened before he can arrive to the height of sin.
South.
Her pride
debauched
her judgment and her eyes.
Cowley.

De-bauch′

,
Noun.
[Cf. F.
débauche
.]
1.
Excess in eating or drinking; intemperance; drunkenness; lewdness; debauchery.
The first physicians by
debauch
were made.
Dryden.
2.
An act or occasion of debauchery.
Silenus, from his night's
debauch
,
Fatigued and sick.
Cowley.

Webster 1828 Edition

Debauch

DEBAUCH'

,
Verb.
T.
[The general sense of debauch, in English, is to lead astray, like seduce.]

Definition 2024

debauch

debauch

English

Noun

debauch ‎(plural debauches)

  1. An individual act of debauchery.
    • 1902, Thomas Ebenezer Webb, The Mystery of William Shakespeare: A Summary of Evidence, page 242:
      Greene died of a debauch; and Marlowe, the gracer of tragedians, perished in an ignominious brawl.
    • 1913, Sax Rohmer, The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, ch. 25:
      [T]he room probably was one which he actually used for opium debauches.
  2. An orgy.
    • 1955, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, ch. 13:
      [T]here were always the gay and silly sensual young girls that Yossarian had found and brought there and those that the sleepy enlisted men returning to Pianosa after their own exhausting seven-day debauch had brought there.

Translations

Verb

debauch ‎(third-person singular simple present debauches, present participle debauching, simple past and past participle debauched)

  1. (transitive) To morally corrupt (someone); to seduce.
    • 1727, Daniel Defoe, The History of the Devil, ch. 9:
      But the Devil had met with too much Success in his first Attempts, not to go on with his general Resolution of debauching the Minds of Men, and bringing them off from God.
  2. (transitive) To debase (something); to lower the value of (something).

Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

References

  1. ↑ “debauch” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Etymology

1590s, from Middle French desbaucher ‎(“entice from work or duty”), from Old French desbauchier ‎(“to lead astray”), from des- + bauch ‎(“beam”), from Frankish *balko,[1] from Proto-Germanic *balkô, from Proto-Indo-European *bhelg- ‎(“beam, plank”); latter origin of balk.

Evolution of sense unclear; may be literally “to shave/trim wood to make a beam” or may be “to leave/lure someone from a workshop”, Frankish *balko perhaps also meaning “workshop”.

Possible corruption by way of Anglicised French term 'bord' meaning edge, kerb: kerb crawling as a synonym for prostitution. Parallels in modern German: 'Bordsteinschwalbe" (Lit transl: Kerb-stone-swallow or kerb-bird, a prostitute). English words bawd, bawdiness may be similarly connected.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dɪˈbɔːt͡ʃ/
  • Rhymes: -ɔːtʃ

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