English

Alternative forms

• baud
• baude

Noun

bawd ‎(plural bawds)

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, British Wonders:

     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

bawd ‎(comparative more bawd, superlative most bawd)

1. (obsolete) Joyous; riotously gay.

Verb

bawd ‎(third-person singular simple present bawds, present participle bawding, simple past and past participle bawded)

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

Welsh

Etymology

Compare Breton meud.

Noun

bawd m (plural bodiau)

1. thumb

Mutation