sodomy
(ˈsɒdəmɪ)
Forms: 3–5 sodomye (5 zodomye), 4, 6–7 -ie, 6 -i, 5– sodomy.
[a. OF. (also mod.F.) sodomie: see Sodom and -y.]
1. An unnatural form of sexual intercourse, esp. that of one male with another.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9038 Mid þe vile sunne of sodomye yproued hii were echon. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 5 Mempricius..forsook his wyf at þe laste, and vsede sodomye as a schrewe schulde. c 1440 Jacob's Well 162 Þe xiiij. fote depth is sodomye, þat is, synne aȝens kynde. 1536–40 Pilgr. Tale 407 The prophet..which knew before of there sodomi. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 236 The abhominable sinne of Sodomie..is plainly forbidden. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 198 Wicked Sodomy, a sin so hateful to Nature it self that she abhors it. 1727 Swift Poisoning E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 151 Heaven pardon me for publishing the Trials of sodomy. 1782 J. Brown Nat. & Revealed Relig. i. i. 23 Polygamy must occasion..sodomy, bestiality, or the like. 1864 tr. Caspar's Forensic Med. III. 336 It is no secret that the unnatural connection of men with animals, sodomy in the restricted sense of the word, still sneaks about. |
| fig. 1395 Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 7 Symonie is gostli sodomie and eresie. |
2. An act or instance of this.
| 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 271 Agrippa detesteth his monstrous veneries, and execrable Sodomies. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. iii. ii. iv. (1651) 205 Those rapes,..Sodomies, buggeries of Monkes and Friers. |