Middle English Dictionary Entry
baude n.
Entry Info
| Forms | baude n. |
| Etymology | OF baud(e 'gay; licentious, dissolute'; see Raphael Levy 'The etym. of E bawd', PQ 32.83-9 (1953). |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A procurer or procuress, a go-between; (b) a harlot.
Associated quotations
a
- c1390 PPl.A(1) (Vrn)3.42 : Þauh lerede and lewede hedden leyen bi þe alle..I schal asoyle þe my-self.. And eke be þi Baude [vrr. baudekyn, bawdstrot], and Bere wel þin ernde Among Clerkes and knihtes.
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Pars.(Manly-Rickert)I.886 : Putours that..constreyne wommen to yelden to hem a certeyn rente of hire bodily puterie..as doon thise bawdes.
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.Fri.(Manly-Rickert)D.1354 : He was..a somnour and a baude. He hadde eek wenches at his retenue [etc.].
- c1400(?a1387) PPl.C (Hnt HM 137)7.189 : And sende out olde baudes, For to wynne to my wil wommen with gyle..Ich lay by þe louelokeste.
- a1425(c1385) Chaucer TC (Benson-Robinson)2.353 : Me were levere thow and I and he Were hanged, than I [Pandarus] sholde ben his baude.
- a1425(?a1400) RRose (Htrn 409)7034 : Olde horis hostilers, Or other bawdes or bordillers.
- c1425 Found.St.Barth.57/13 : Thys woman..by a bawde bigilid..to voluptuousnes of vncleyne synne.
- (a1432) Proc.Chanc.in Cal.PCEliz.1.p.xxii : Richard..wold have yeven her a goun cloth, with that she wolde have assented to be a bawde be twene Katerine, his wiff, and me.
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Bod 263)9.2713 : Flaterers & folk þat koude lie, Baudis, ribaudis.
- a1450(c1410) Lovel.Merlin (Corp-C 80)411 : This Bawde answerid hire agayn..'ȝe scholen..leden ȝoure lyf jn lechere.'
- c1483(?a1450) OT in Caxton Gold.Leg.(Caxton)f.83ra : Vago his bawde wente in to his preuy chambre & stode byfore the curtyne & clapped hys handes to gydre, wenyng he had slepte with Judith.
- a1500(?a1450) GRom.(Add 9066)384 : A woman..that was a bawde be-twene an housbond-man and a-nothere mannys wife.
- a1500(a1460) Towneley Pl.(Hnt HM 1)378/356 : All harlottys and horres, And bawdys that procures, To bryng thaym to lures.
- c1500(?a1475) Ass.Gods (Trin-C R.3.19)700 : Hostelers of the stewes, Hoores, and baudys.
b
- c1390 PPl.A(1) (Vrn)3.124 : Þer nis no beter Baude..Heo [Meed] is Tikel of hire Tayl..As Comuyn as þe Cartwei to knaues and to alle.
- a1500(a1460) Towneley Pl.(Hnt HM 1)135/595 : Lett bren this bawde and bynd hir fast.
- a1500(a1460) Towneley Pl.(Hnt HM 1)176/355 : Peasse byd I, bawd!