debauch
Use Debauch 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; < French débaucher to entice away from duty, debauch, Old French desbauchier to disperse, scatter, equivalent to des- dis-1 + -bauchier, derivative of bauc, bauch beam (< Germanic; see balcony, balk; compare French ébaucher to rough-hew); hence, presumably, to hew (beams) > to split, separate > to separate from work or duty
1585–95; < French débaucher to entice away from duty, debauch, Old French desbauchier to disperse, scatter, equivalent to des- dis-1 + -bauchier, derivative of bauc, bauch beam (< Germanic; see balcony, balk; compare French 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
|
Link To debauch
00:10
Debauch
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is peculate. Does it mean:
| to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle. |
| to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
debauch (dɪˈbɔːtʃ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | ( |
| 2. | (tr) to seduce (a woman) |
| —n | |
| 3. | an instance or period of extreme dissipation |
| [C16: from Old French desbaucher to corrupt, literally: to shape (timber) roughly, from bauch beam, of Germanic origin] | |
| debauchedly | |
| —adv | |
| de'bauchedness | |
| —n | |
| de'baucher | |
| —n | |
| de'bauchery | |
| —n | |
| de'bauchment | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
debauch
1590s, 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 Frankish balk; from the same Gmc. source that yielded English 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
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Cite This Source
Example sentences
He threw himself upon one of the seats at full length as if to sleep off his debauch.
The opinion of those who know him is that he took an overdose of morphine io counteract the effects of a debauch.
He was on a protracted debauch, but sober enough to be on the alert against all attempts to persuade him to submit to treatment.
When her smug father comes to try to persuade her to abandon her career of vice, she shamelessly attempts to debauch him.
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