bawd

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“The impudence of a bawd is modesty compared with that of a convert,” said George Savile, the first marquess of Halifax.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026

Words such as scold, shrew, termagent, witch, harlot, bawd, and tramp were all at one point in their histories terms for men; furthermore, the terms were usually neutral and sometimes even adulatory.

From Salon • May 11, 2013

Best of all is the wonderful, pivotal scene in which Tilly Tremayne's well-judged, shrewd widow takes on Harriet Walter's glittering bawd at chess.

From The Guardian • May 1, 2010

Dayton, Ohio; Miami, Fla. Kiss Me Kate, Cole Porter's musical melding of bard and bawd, with Marguerite Piazza as the tamed shrew.

From Time Magazine Archive

An importunate dunn; a serjeant or bailiff; a paunbroker; a prison; a tavern; a scold; a bad husband; a town-fop; a bawd; a fair and happy milk-maid; the quack's directory; a young enamourist.

From Microcosmography or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters by Earle, John