deˈboshed, ppl. a.
Also 7 debosht.
An early variant of debauched, representing the pronunciation of F. débauché; connected with the main form by debaushed, debausht. Obs. in Eng. before the middle of 17th c.; retained longer in Scotch; revived by Scott, and now frequent in literary English, with somewhat vaguer sense than debauched.
| 1599 James I βασιλ. Δωρον (1603) 110 Ouer superfluous like a deboshed waister. 1605 Shakes. Lear i. iv. 263 Men so disorder'd, so debosh'd, and bold. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. ii. 16 One Herostratus, a wicked and debosht fellow. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 358 Ignorant and debosht ministers are tolerated. 1826 Scott Woodst. iii, Swash-bucklers, deboshed revellers, bloody brawlers. 1859 Kingsley Plays & Purit. Misc. II. 109 An utterly deboshed, insincere, decrepit, and decaying age. 1867 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. ii. 55 Many deboshed younger brothers of..good families may have sought refuge in Virginia. |