noun
bawd
BAWD/bɔːd/
A person who arranges or manages prostitution.
The historical play portrays a bawd managing a house of prostitution.
Etymology
Old French baud meant “gay, licentious” and is a probable, though disputed, source. The procurer sense may reflect shortening of baude-strote, a term for someone who procured prostitutes.
In context
In 1635, the pamphleteer John Taylor published a short satire about prostitution called A Bawd. (A bawd is a woman in charge of a brothel.)
More examples
- The court record identifies the accused woman as a bawd.
- Several bawds appear in the satirical novel.
- The glossary explains the old occupational term bawd.
Forms
bawd · bawds
Similar words
- procurer
- Similarly arranges sexual services, with less historical coloring.
- pimp
- A more current term, often implying exploitative control.