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strumpet - 6 dictionary results

strum⋅pet

[struhm-pit]
–noun
a prostitute; harlot.

Origin:
1300–50; ME < ?


strum⋅pet⋅like, adjective
strum·pet   (strŭm'pĭt)   
n.  A woman prostitute.

[Middle English.]

Strumpet

Strum"pet\, n. [OE. strumpet, strompet; cf. OF. stupe debauchery, F. stupe, L. stuprare, stupratum, to debauch, stuprum debauchery, Gael. & Ir. striopach a prostitute.] A prostitute; a harlot. --Shak.

Strumpet

Strum"pet\, a. Of or pertaining to a strumpet; characteristic of a strumpet.

Out on thy more than strumpet impudence. --B. Jonson.

Strumpet

Strum"pet\, v. t. 1. To debauch. [Obs.] --Shak.

2. To dishonor with the reputation of being a strumpet; hence, to belie; to slander.

With his untrue reports, strumpet your fame. --Massinger.

strumpet 
c.1327, of uncertain origin. One theory connects it with L. stuprata, fem. pp. of stuprare "have illicit sexual relations with," or L.L. strupum "dishonor, violation." Others suggest M.Du. strompe "a stocking," or strompen "to stride, to stalk" (as a prostitute might a customer). The major sources don't seem to give much preference to any of these. Weekley notes "Gregory's Chronicle (c.1450) has streppett in same sense." In 18c.-early 19c., often abbreviated as strum and also used as a v., which led to some odd dictionary entries:
TO STRUM: to have carnal knowledge of a woman, also to play badly on the harpsichord or any other stringed instrument. [Capt. Francis Grose, "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1796]
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