▪ I. prostitute, ppl. a. and n.
(ˈprɒstɪtjuːt)
[ad. L. prōstitūt-us (fem. prōstitūta a prostitute), pa. pple. of prōstitu-ĕre to place before, expose publicly, offer for sale, prostitute, f. prō, pro-1 1 + statu-ĕre to cause to stand, set up, place.]
A. adj.
1. Offered or exposed to lust (as a woman), prostituted; also more generally, abandoned to sensual indulgence, licentious. (Sometimes const. as pa. pple.) Now rare or Obs. (exc. as attrib. use of B. 1).
| 1572 tr. Buchanan's Detection Mary Q. Scots G iij, One of hir awne traine, one past all shame and of prostitute vnchastitie. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iv. ii. (1886) 59 The divell lieth prostitute as Succubus to the man. a 1613 Overbury A Wife, etc. (1638) 118 Shee baits her desires with a million of prostitute countenances and enticements. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. vii. (1651) 165 Noblemens daughters..were prostitute to every common souldier. 1706 Reflex. upon Ridicule 155 Women of a prostitute character. a 1721 Prior Henry & Emma 454 Made bold by want, and prostitute for bread. 1756 C. Smart Horace's Sat. i. iv. (1826) II. 39 His dissolute son, mad after a prostitute mistress, refuses a wife with a large portion. |
2. fig. Debased or debasing; abandoned; basely venal, devoted to infamous gain; corrupt. Now rare.
| 1563 J. Man Musculus' Commonpl. 43 These prostitute images openly sette up in Churches doe this harme, that they doe withdrawe mennes mindes..from the consideration of God's maiestie shewed in his liuely Creatures. 1626 Meade in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 229 We might..draw a general contempt and hatred upon the University as men of most prostitute flattery. 1704 Swift T. Tub Auth. Apol., Illiterate scribblers prostitute in their reputations, vicious in their lives and ruined in their fortunes. 1754–62 Hume Hist. Eng. (1818) VIII. 236 No courtier, even the most prostitute, could go farther than the parliament itself towards a resignation of their liberties. 1788 A. Hamilton Federalist No. 67 II. 226 So shameless and so prostitute an attempt to impose on the citizens of America. |
† 3. a. Given over, devoted; exposed, subjected (to something usually evil). Const. as pa. pple. Obs.
| 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars i. xxvi, Honour deiected from that soueraigne state,..Now prostitute to infamy and hate. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God (1620) 120 The Moone can be eclipsed but at her full, and in her farther positure from the Sunne: then is she prostitute to obnubilation. 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. Pref., As a matter of ease, exposed and prostitute to every Mother-wit, and to be attained without any great care or study. 1708 Erasmus' Life Colet in Phenix II. No. 17. 16 The Dean's table, which..had been too much prostitute to excess, he reduc'd to frugality. |
† b. Debased by being made common or cheap; hackneyed. Obs.
| 1630 B. Jonson New Inn, Ode to Himself v, Leave things so prostitute, And take the Alcaic lute. 1652 H. L'Estrange Amer. no Jewes 19 This is so cheap and prostitute a custome all the World over. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxxviii. 318 Yet was not the gracious reception which she gave prostitute and undistinguishing. |
¶ 4. Laid low before some one: perh. confused with prostrate a. (Cf. B. 2 c, and next, 4.)
| 1621 Quarles Esther K iv b, Once more the Queen prefers an earnest suit, Her humble Body lowly prostitute Before his Royal feet. a 1648 Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII (1683) 627, I your most humble Subject prostitute at your foot, do most humbly beseech your Highness to be my good and gracious Lord. |
B. n.
1. a. A woman who is devoted, or (usually) who offers her body to indiscriminate sexual intercourse, esp. for hire; a common harlot.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage viii. iv. 627, I haue seene houses as full of such prostitutes, as the schooles in France are full of children. 1645 Evelyn Diary 28 Feb., [During the Carnival at Rome] The streetes swarm with prostitutes, buffoones, and all man'er of rabble. 1768 Goldsm. Good-n. Man v. i, Your friendship as common as a prostitute's favours. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Ranke (1887) 591 A prostitute, seated on a chair of state in the chancel of Nôtre Dame. |
† b. A catamite. Obs. rare.
| 1654 R. Codrington tr. Iustine xxx. 380 Her Brother Agathocles, a prostitute of an aspiring comeliness. Ibid., Agathocles the Prostitute being joined to the side of the King, did govern the city. |
c. A man who undertakes male homosexual acts for payment; usu. male prostitute.
| 1948 [see male prostitute s.v. male a. 1 e]. 1958 L. Durrell Balthazar vii. 157 A magnificent-looking male prostitute whose oiled curls hung down his back and whose eyes and lips were heavily painted. 1967 Listener 1 June 718/2 Few of them ever told me what they were in for, though in the case of Ralph, a male prostitute known to the wing as Suzanne, it was only too obvious. 1975 Daily Tel. 24 July 3/6 Many of the boys became male prostitutes. |
2. a. A person given over to infamous practices of any kind; an abandoned person. b. esp. One who debases himself for the sake of gain, a base hireling, a corrupt and venal politician.
| 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lxiv. (1739) 134 To serve one man, a stranger, and a prostitute to all manner of licentiousness. 1693 Dryden Persius i. (1697) 407 Base Prostitute, thus dost thou gain thy Bread? Thus dost thou feed their Ears, and thus art fed? 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. I. 50 The faithful and the perfidious, the prostitute and the patriot are confounded together. 1804 Currie in Creevey Papers (1904) I. i. 30 He [Lord Brougham] is a notorious prostitute, and is setting himself up to sale. 1889 G. B. Shaw Let. 31 Aug. (1965) 223 The radical who writes conservative articles is considered a prostitute. 1980 R. L. C. Fitz Gibbon Rat Report vi. 122 You damned us..for turning scientists into military prostitutes. |
† c. A person entirely or abjectly devoted to another; a ‘slave’. Obs. Cf. prostitute v. 3 a.
| 1624 Darcie Birth of Heresies Ep. Ded., Your Highnes most Humble and deuoted prostitute Ab. Darcie. 1634 J. Clavell Recant. Ded., Your most humbly devoted prostitute, J. C. 1721 Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 45 (1754) 241 All this did not satisfy the revengeful president, and the abandon'd prostitutes, his creatures. |
▪ II. prostitute, v.
(ˈprɒstɪtjuːt)
[f. L. prōstitūt-, ppl. stem of prōstitu-ĕre: see prec.]
1. trans. To offer (oneself, or another) to unlawful, esp. indiscriminate, sexual intercourse, usually for hire; to devote or expose to lewdness. (Chiefly refl. of a woman.)
| 1530 Palsgr. 668/1, I prostytute, as a comen woman dothe her self in a bordell house, je prostitue. 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus i. i, He prostituted his abused body To that great gourmond, fat Apicius; And was the noted pathic of the time. 1611 Bible Lev. xix. 29. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 59 She is an Adulteress, impudent, prostitutes her self publiquely. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xlii. (1869) II. 563 He recovered his liberty by prostituting the honour of his wife. |
| fig. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 30 Israel, being wedded to God, estranged herself from Him..and prostituted herself to her idols. |
† b. intr. for refl. To play the prostitute; to commit whoredom. Also fig. Obs. rare.
| 1631 T. Powell Tom All Trades (1876) 143 Before it have defiled the bed of its reputation by prostituting to the adulterous imbracings of a Citie Scrivener. 1747 Gentl. Mag. 193 Ambitious Chloe prostitutes for fame. |
c. trans. To seduce, debauch (a woman). rare.
| 1658 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 14. ii. ii. 30 It were a hard work for the adulterer to convince her he would prostitute, that the fact is lawful. 1890 M. Davitt in Echo 11 Dec. 3/2 [He] will not succeed in prostituting the Irish cause as easily as he prostituted the wife of his friend. |
2. fig. To surrender or put to an unworthy, vile, or infamous use or purpose; to sell for base gain or hire; to defile, dishonour, profane, corrupt.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 38 Thou hadst a Prophecie that thy Sanctuary should not be prostituted. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Tri. i. xiii, When Eve to Sinne her soul did prostitute. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. x. §149 This Argumentation..made a great impression upon all Men who had not prostituted themselves to Cromwell and his Party. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 64 Certain Wits, who prostituted the noble flame of Poetry..to flatter the Lust and Ambition of the Roman Tyrants. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xix. II. 127 note, Posides,.. in whose favour the emperor prostituted some of the most honourable rewards of military valour. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §i. 340 Justice was prostituted in the ordinary courts to the royal will. |
† 3. a. To offer with complete devotion or self-negation; to devote. Obs.
| c 1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 255 And here mie selfe am preste and readie ethir to prostitute mie bodie as a sacrifice for mie realme, or to throwe mie selfe into the middeste of mine enemies. 1611 Rich Honest. Age (Percy Soc.) 12, I doe honour them, and I doe prostitute my selfe for euer to doe them humble seruice. a 1677 Barrow Serm. (1687) I. ix. 120 If God should in requital exact, that we..adventure our health and prostitute all our earthly contents to his service. |
† b. To expose, exhibit, subject, submit (to any destructive agency). Obs.
| 1607 Markham Caval. ii. (1617) Ded., To publish my rude collections, and prostitute to your censuring the depth of my knowledge. 1683 Brit. Spec. Pref. 7 [That] would prostitute the Lives of all his fellow Subjects to the Arbitrary Power of any prevailing Faction. |
† c. To expose to shame; to expose, in a degrading manner to public view, or for public sale.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage iii. i. (1614) 233 The women couer their faces, contented to see with one eie, rather then to prostitute the whole face. 1657 G. Starkey Helmont's Vind. 68 Are not now all vulgar preparations of Minerals, prostituted in every Apothecaries shop? a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 322 To vail their Faces from public View, only to avoid prostituting the Majesty of their Persons to common Eyes. |
¶ 4. Misused for prostrate v. (Cf. prec., A. 4.)
| 1620 Shelton Quix. (1746) IV. ix. 69 He flung himself from his Horse, and with great Humility, went to prostitute himself before the Lady Teresa. 1624 Darcie Birth of Heresies xv. 61 Prostituting themselues before the Images. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 94 Places wherein the Quellem is immediately prostituted beneath the Clay. |
Hence ˈprostituting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1611 Cotgr., Abandonnement, an abandonning..giuing ouer,..prostituting vnto others. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 247 She is plainly termed πορνη, which signifies not an Hostesse, but a pecuniary and prostituting Harlot. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 716 All now was turn'd to jollitie and game,..Marrying or prostituting, as befell. |