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DEBAUCHMENT

 - 2 dictionary results

de⋅bauch

  [di-bawch]
Use DEBAUCHMENT in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to corrupt by sensuality, intemperance, etc.; seduce.
2. to corrupt or pervert; sully: His honesty was debauched by the prospect of easy money.
3. Archaic. to lead away, as from allegiance or duty.
–verb (used without object)
4. to indulge in debauchery.
–noun
5. a period of wanton or sensual self-indulgence.
6. an uninhibited spree or party; orgy: a wild debauch.
Origin:
1585–95; < F débaucher to entice away from duty, debauch, OF desbauchier to disperse, scatter, equiv. to des- dis- 1 + -bauchier, deriv. of bauc, bauch beam (< Gmc; see balcony, balk; cf. F ébaucher to rough-hew); hence, presumably, to hew (beams) > to split, separate > to separate from work or duty

Related forms:
de⋅bauch⋅er, noun
de⋅bauch⋅ment, noun

Synonyms:
1. See debase.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

debauch 
1595, from M.Fr. debaucher "entice from work or duty," from O.Fr. desbaucher "to lead astray," supposedly lit. "to trim (wood) to make a beam" (from bauch "beam," from Frank. balk; from the same Gmc. source that yielded Eng. balk, q.v.). A sense of "shaving" something away, perhaps, but the root is also said to be a word meaning "workshop," which gets toward the notion of "to lure someone off the job;" either way the sense evolution is unclear.
"Debauchee, n. One who has so earnestly pursued pleasure that he has had the misfortune to overtake it." [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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