Word.ws English Dictionary

bawds

bawds is the plural of bawd.

Meaning of bawd

Noun

bawd (plural bawds)

  1. (archaic, historical) One who keeps a brothel, or procures women for prostitution; a procurer or madam.
    • Of late in the Park, a fair fancy was seen / Betwixt an old Baud and a lusty young Quean, / Their parting of Money began the uproar, / I'll have half says the Baud, but you shan't says the Whore1709, Wit and mirth: or, Pills to Purge Melancholy; Being a Choice Collection of the best Merry Ballads […] , Second Edition edition, volume IV, London: William Pearson, page 18
  2. (broadly, obsolete) A person who facilitates an immoral act, especially one of a sexual nature.
    • In ſaying this thou wrongſt me Gaueſton, / Iſt not enough that thou corrupts my Lord, / And art a Bawd to his affections, / But thou muſt call mine honour thus in queſtion?1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act...
  3. A lewd person.

See all 5 meanings of bawd

Questions about bawds

What is bawds the plural of?
Bawds is the plural of bawd.

Words near bawds in the dictionary

  1. bawdricks
  2. bawdrics
  3. bawdries
  4. bawdrons
  5. bawdry
  6. bawds
  7. bawdship
  8. bawdships
  9. bawdy
  10. bawdy basket
  11. bawdy baskets

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bawds (page history and authors); bawd (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “bawds.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bawds. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.