▪ I. debauch, v.
(dɪˈbɔːtʃ)
Forms: 6– debauch; 6–7 (9 Sc.) debosh, 7 debaush, debausch, debosche, 7–8 deboash, 9 Sc. debush.
[a. (c 1600) F. débauch-er, in OF. desbaucher (13–14th c.) to entice away from the service of one's master, seduce from duty, etc. Of obscure derivation. The original pronunciation after modern F., and its gradual change, are seen in the spellings debosh, debaush, deboach, debauch riming in 1682 with approach: see the n. See also deboise.
F. débaucher is, according to Littré and Hatzfeld, derived from a n. bauche, of which the precise sense and origin are according to the latter unknown; according to the former it = ‘a place of work, workshop’, so that desbaucher would mean orig. ‘to draw away from the workshop, from one's work or duty’: so Diez. Cotgr. has bauche, ‘course of stones or bricks in building’, baucher ‘to chip, hew, or square timber, etc.; also to ranke, order, array, lay euenly’; hence desbaucher might primarily mean ‘to disorder, bring into disarray or disorder’. The sense ‘draw away from service or duty’ appears however to be the earliest in French, though that of ‘corrupt’, had also been developed before the word was taken into English.]
† 1. trans. To turn or lead away, entice, seduce, from one to whom service or allegiance is due; e.g. soldiers or allies from a leader, a wife or children from husband or father, etc. (Usually with the connotation ‘lead astray, mislead’.) Rarely with against. Obs.
| a 1595 Sir. R. Williams Actions Low C. (1618) 5 (T.) That Count Egmont would be deboshed from them by the Spanish instruments. 1614 Lodge Seneca 49 Not to have such a woman to his wife that was not debauched from her husband. 1677 G. Hickes in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. IV. 42 To debauch the military and gentry..from their duty to his Majesty. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. Pref. (1721) I. 80 He who had the Address to debauch away Helen from her Husband. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 72 Money debauches children against their parents. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iv. i, He had hardly put up his sign, when he began to debauch my best customers from me. 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. I. xvi. 211 He debauched prince John from his allegiance. 1765 Goldsm. Ess. Taste Wks. (Globe) 315/2 Thus debauched from nature, how can we relish her genuine productions? |
† b. To entice, seduce, or gain over to a party or course of action, or to do a thing. Obs.
| 1667 Pepys Diary 3 July, Two young men whom one of them debauched by degrees to steal their fathers' plate and clothes. 1694 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 459 The five Indian nations wer now debauched to the french interest. 1765 Goldsm. Ess. Taste Wks. (Globe) 313/2 Hence the youth of both sexes are debauched to diversion. 1797 Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 100 Their amity is to debauch us to their principles. |
† c. (Without const.) To seduce from allegiance or duty, induce to desert; to render disaffected; to pervert or corrupt in regard of allegiance or duty to others. Obs. (exc. as merged in the more general sense of 2.)
| 1623 Favine Theat. Hon. i. iv. 25 To debosh and corrupt the subiects. 1651 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 285 Mr. John Cosin, son of the Dean, debauched by the priests. 1691 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 204 Persons dispersing Tyrconnells declarations to debauch our soldiers. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. App. i, If a servant ran away, Jack had debauched him. 1741 Middleton Cicero I. ii. 126 His army..debauched by his factious officers. 1807 Pike Sources Mississ. ii. App. 51 The Spaniards were making such great exertions to debauch the minds of our savages. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India I. iii. iv. 584 To betray their master and debauch his army. |
2. To seduce from virtue or morality; to pervert, deprave, or corrupt morally; esp. to corrupt or deprave by intemperance, or sensual indulgence.
| 1603 Florio Montaigne (1613) 536 (T.) Young men, such as I imagine to be least debaushed and corrupted by ill examples. 1611 Cotgr, Desbaucher, to debosh..seduce, mislead; make lewd, bring to disorder, draw from goodnesse. a 1665 J. Goodwin Filled w. the Spirit (1867) 40 Though Paul had been a grievous sinner..yet he had not debauched his conscience. a 1694 Tillotson (J.), To debauch himself by intemperance and brutish sensuality. 1718 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. III. 47 The young men..had been lately so generally debaucht with Rum. 1745 Fielding True Patriot Wks. 1775 IX. 311 For fear of enervating their minds and debauching their morals. 1816 J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) 133 If a father debauches his children, is his family likely to be noted for subordination and respectability? 1829 Lytton Devereux ii. ii, Their humour debauches the whole moral system. 1879 Froude Cæsar xii. 163 The seat of justice has been publicly debauched. |
b. To seduce (a woman) from chastity.
(Closely related to 1: see quots. 1614, 1697 there; but eventually also associated with the notion ‘corrupt’.)
| 1711 Steele Spect. No. 151 ¶1 A young lewd Fellow..who would..debauch your Sister, or lie with your Wife. 1791 Boswell Johnson 20 Mar. an. 1776, An abandoned profligate may think that it is not wrong to debauch my wife. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1039 A compensation in damages for debauching his daughter. 1843 James Forest Days II. iii, Debauching a country girl. |
3. To deprave, vitiate (the taste, senses, judgement, etc.).
(In first quot. perhaps = mislead, fig. of 1 c.)
| [1635 Cowley Davideis iii. 700 Her Pride debauch'd her Judgment and her Eyes.] 1664 Evelyn Sylva (1679) 28 Acorns were heretofore the food of Men..till their luxurious palats were debauched. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 151 Most other animals are nicer in their Senses (having no way debauch't them) than Mankind is. 1710 Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. §123 A mind not yet debauched by learning. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 51 Having never been debauched with applause, she set light by her own qualifications. 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 379 A person, whose understanding has not been debauched by superannuated prejudice. 1816 Scott Antiq. xiii, They debauch the spirit of the ignorant and credulous with mystical trash. |
† 4. To vilify, damage in reputation; to depreciate, disparage. Obs.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 206 He's quoted for a most perfidious slaue, With all the spots a' th' world taxt and debosh'd. 1632 Heywood 2nd Pt. Iron Age iv. Wks. 1874 III. 396 Whil'st Cethus like a forlorne shadowe walkes Dispis'd, disgrac't, neglected, and debosht. a 1659 Osborn Misc., Pref. (1673) Qq ij b, It is contrary to my own Aphorism to debosh what I present, by saying it was writ before I was Twenty. |
† b. To damage or spoil in quality. Obs. (Cf. deboist 2.)
| 1633 True Trojans iv. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 512 Last year his barks and galleys were debosh'd; This year they sprout again. |
† 5. To dissipate, spend prodigally, squander.
| 1632 [see deboise v.]. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 419 To..give them in rent more thousands (to debosh and mispend) nor honest men hes hundreds. 1649 Ld. Foord in M. P. Brown Suppl. Decis. (1826) 399 Since her husband had debausched all, and left nothing to her. |
6. intr. (formerly refl.) To indulge to excess in sensual enjoyment, esp. that of eating and drinking; to riot, revel. ? Obs.
| 1644 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 73 Which causes the English to make no long sojourn here, except such as can drink and debauch. 1687 Montague & Prior Hind & P. Transv. A iv, 'Tis hard to conceive how any man could censure the Turks for Gluttony, a People that debauch in Coffee. 1689 Minutes Kirk Session in McKay Hist. Kilmarnock (1880) 10 Such as they find drinking there, or in any way deboshing. 1703 Savage Lett. Antients cvii. 269 More proper for you, than to debauch with Sicilian Wine. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) I. 355 We, to grow hot, deboash ourselves in Beef. 1732 Law Serious C. xiii. (1761) 203 That he neither drank, nor debauched; but was sober and regular in his business. 1825 Jamieson, To debosh, to indulge one's self in the use of any thing to excess; as tea, snuff, &c. |
| fig. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 557 Hatred her brothel has, as well as love, Where horrid epicures debauch in blood. |
Hence deˈbauching vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1645 Milton Tetrach. i. (1851) 217 A most negligent and debaushing tutor. 1660 ― Free Commw. 428 To the debauching of our prime Gentry both Male and Female. 1662 Petty Taxes & Contrib. 48 If we should think it hard to giue good necessary cloth for debauching wines. |
▪ II. debauch, n.
(dɪˈbɔːtʃ)
(Also 7 deboach.)
[a. F. débauche, f. débaucher to debauch. For the phonology, etc., see the verb.]
I. 1. A bout of excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, esp. those of eating and drinking.
| 1603 Florio Montaigne 488 My debauches or excesses transport me not much. 1661 Pepys Diary 3 Apr., My head akeing all day from last night's debauch. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iii. 203 Snoring after late Debauches, Nor dream'st what mischief now thy Head approaches. 1737 L. Clarke Hist. Bible (1740) II. xii. 714 Extravagant and beastly debauches. 1839–40 W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 125 The dissolute companions of his debauches. 1874 Green Short Hist. iii. §3. 126 The fever..was inflamed by a gluttonous debauch. |
2. The practice or habit of such indulgence; debauchery.
| 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode iv. i, Masquerade is Vizor-mask in debauch. 1699 ― Ep. to J. Dryden 73 The first physicians by debauch were made. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 470 A whiff Of stale debauch, forth-issuing from the styes That law has licensed. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 74 All debauch is incipient suicide. |
3. transf. and fig.
| 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 41 He flyes out into a furious Debauch, and breaks the Windows. 1710 Shaftesbury Advice to Author ii. §2 (R.) Thro' petulancy, or debauch of humour. 1752 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 148 The gentle Damon..inspires us with the same happy debauch of fancy by which he is himself transported. 1873 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 195 Such a debauch of initial assonances. |
† II. 4. = debauchee. Obs. [perh. for F. débauché, through the pl. in -és.]
| 1681 Glanvill Sadducismus ii. (1726) 452 A greater charge against these quibbling Debauches. 1689 J. Carlisle Fortune-Hunters 6 He grew the Debauch of the Town. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) IV. 319 When Debauches of both Sexes, From Hospitals crept. |
▪ III. † deˈbauch, debaush, a. Obs.
[perh. ad. F. débauché, with -e mute, or ? corruption of debaucht.]
= debauched. (Cf. debauchness.)
| 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle v. 1758 Mock them as despisde And debaush creatures. |