debauch
Plural: debauches
Noun
- a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
- An individual act of debauchery.
- An orgy.
Verb
Verb Forms: debauched, debauching, debauches
- To corrupt morally; to lead into excessive indulgence.
- corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
- "debauch the young people with wine and women"
- To morally corrupt (someone); to seduce.
- To debase (something); to lower the value of (something).
- To indulge in revelry.
Examples
- He swore the thrill of a triple word score would DEBAUCH even the most principled player.
Origin / Etymology
1590s, from Middle French desbaucher (“entice from work or duty”), from Old French desbauchier (“to lead astray”), from des- + bauch (“beam”), from Frankish *balkō, from Proto-Germanic *balkô, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, plank”); latter origin of balk.
Evolution of sense unclear; may be literally “to shave/trim wood to make a beam” or may be “to leave/lure someone from a workshop”, Frankish *balkō perhaps also meaning “workshop”.
Possible corruption by way of Anglicised French term bord (“edge, curb”): curb crawling as a synonym for prostitution. Parallels in modern German: Bordsteinschwalbe (“prostitute”, literally “Curb-stone-swallow”). English words bawd, bawdiness may be similarly connected.
Synonyms
bacchanal, bacchanalia, corrupt, debase, debauchery, demoralise, demoralize, deprave, drunken revelry, misdirect, orgy, pervert, profane, riot, saturnalia, subvert, vitiate
Scrabble Score: 15
debauch: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Worddebauch: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
debauch: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary