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strumpet - 6 dictionary results

strum⋅pet

  [struhm-pit]
Use strumpet in a Sentence
–noun
a prostitute; harlot.
Origin:
1300–50; ME < ?

Related forms:
strum⋅pet⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To strumpet
strum·pet   (strŭm'pĭt)   
n.  A woman prostitute.

[Middle English.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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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]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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