▪ I. strumpet, n.
(ˈstrʌmpɪt)
Forms: 4 strumpat, strompat, 4–6 strompet, 5–6 -ett(e, (5 strompyd, 6 stroumpet), 5–6 strumpett(e, (5 -ytt), 7 strompit(t, strumpitt, 4– strumpet.
[Of obscure origin; for conjectures see Skeat.]
A debauched or unchaste woman, a harlot, prostitute.
| a 1327 Pol. Poems (Camden) 153 Uch a strumpet that ther is such drahtes wl drawe. Ibid. 155 That heo be kud ant knewe For strompet in rybaudes rewe. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. i. (1868) 6 Þise comune strumpetis of siche a place þat men clepen þe theatre [L. has scenicas meretriculas]. 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxiii. 17 There shal be no strumpet [1388 hoore] of the douȝtres of Yrael. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 299 He fonde seven children i-leyde bysides a pond, þat a strompat hadde i-bore at oon burþen. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 3 Sho become þe moste common strompyd in all þe land. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. iv. x. in Ashm. (1652) 146 For seldome have Strumpetts Chyldren of them I bore. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 140 b, marg. Stroumpettes and paramoures. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. V, 21 b, Shores wife a vile and abhominable strompet. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 17 This yere the comyn strompettes that ware takene in London ware raye hoddes. 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 174 A strumpets boldnesse. 1604 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 434 If any man or woman call a wedded woman common strumpitt. 1631 Dekker Match Mee iv. K, As I am thy wife Make not thy selfe a strompit of me. 1683 Hedges Diary 11 Dec. I. 143 He regards nothing but to enjoy his little Seraglio of 6 Strumpets. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 286 ¶1 An innocent Creature who would start at the Name of a Strumpet, may think it pretty to be called a Mistress. 1864 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene 451 The most degraded and dangerous strumpets are allowed to congregate round our barracks with⁓out hindrance. 1889 J. M. Duncan Clin. Lect. Dis. Women xxii. (ed. 4) 186 This is a disease of childhood, and the only exception to this I have seen was in a very young strumpet. |
b. fig. and of things personified.
| 1545 Bale Image Both Ch. i. ix. (1550) K v, They knowe the open whoredome of the babylonicall strompet. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health lxxiii. 21 b, I do say that an uryne is a strumpet, or an harlot, for it wyl lye, and the best Doctour of Phisicke of them all maye be deceyved in an uryne. 1563–83 Foxe A. & M. 799/2 John Houshold was charged to haue called..the Pope him selfe a strong strumpet, and a common baude vnto the world. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 61 France is a Bawd to Fortune, and king Iohn, That strumpet Fortune, that vsurping Iohn. 1602 ― Ham. ii. ii. 515 Out, out, thou Strumpet-Fortune. 1663 Patrick Parab. Pilgrim xxviii. (1687) 320 Those Divine Souls, who had converted the Muses, and of Courtesans and lewd Strumpets made them turn Religious and Saintly Creatures. 1727 P. Walker Vind. Cameron's Name Biog. Presbyt. (1827) I. 315 That old Gray⁓headed Strumpet Prelacy. 1915 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 335 The Kaiser and his parasites have gone a-whoring after Bellona, the deadliest strumpet that ever wrecked the souls and bodies of men. |
c. quasi-adj. That is a strumpet.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vi. 16 The skarfed barke puts from her natiue bay, Hudg'd and embraced by the strumpet winde. a 1634 ? Chapman Alphonsus v. i. 175 Will not your Grace dispatch the Strumpet Queen? 1812 Combe Syntax, Picturesque xxiii, Oft have I said in words unkind, That strumpet Fortune's very blind. |
d. attrib. and
Comb., as
strumpet blood,
strumpet flattery;
strumpet-like adj. and
adv.;
strumpet-wise adv., after the manner of a strumpet.
| 1599 Marston Antonio's Rev. iii. v, Disloyal to our Hymniall [sic] rites, What raging heat rains in thy *strumpet blood? |
| 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. Conclus. 64 But laying down his head among the *strumpet flatteries of Prelats, while he sleeps..they wickedly shaving off all those..tresses of his laws, and just prerogatives.., deliver him over [etc.]. |
| 1574 J. Bradford Two Notable Serm. ii. K vj b, If thou doo not altogether consider Christes mynde, thou dealest vnhonestly & *strumpetlike with him. For it is the propertye of strumpets to consider the thynges geuen..them, rather then the loue..of the geuer. 1579 J. Northbrooke Dicing 28 b, Ludi Florales, which were abhominable plaies in Rome, to the honour of their strumpetlike Goddesse Flora. 1647 Stapylton Juvenal 28 The more then strumpet-like impudence of these sarsenet judges. |
| 1653 Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 63 *Strumpet-wise fingring a lute, as the manner is,..where such are allowed, to invite customers to them. |
Hence
† ˈstrumpethood, the condition of being a strumpet.
† strumpeˈtier, a whore-monger.
strumpeˈtocracy jocular, government by strumpets.
† ˈstrumpetry, harlotry (in
quot. fig.).
| 1435 Misyn Fire of Love 54 Þe couetus hart, for lufe of penys, to fendis strumpetry hys bosum opyns. a 1440 Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 55 And no more the ȝiftis of suche men plesith hym than the wagis of strompethode. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 20. 1035 O that our luxurious Strumpetiers could reade in their diseased bodies the estate of their leprous soules. 1818 Edin. Rev. XXX. 425 In the Strumpetocracy of France, he had risen to this post by the most servile attention to Madame de Pompadour. 1833 Carlyle Misc. Ess., Diderot (1888) 28 Where Denis (for heretical Metaphysics and irreverence to the Strumpetocracy) languishes in durance. 1899 H. S. Wilson in New Cent. Rev. V. 168 Zola wants to show in action the morals and manners..which developed the aristocracy of the Bourse and the strumpetocracy of Paris. |
▪ II. † ˈstrumpet, v. Obs. [f. strumpet n.] 1. trans. To bring to the condition of a strumpet.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 146 For if we two be one, and thou play false, I doe digest the poison of thy flesh, Being strumpeted by thy contagion. 1608 Heywood Lucrece v. i. (1630) H 4, And by a stranger I am strumpeted, Rauisht, inforc'd. 1640 S. Harding Sicily & Naples ii. v. 30 Charintha's strumpetted; her name is rank't I' th vulgar breath, 'mongst common prostitutes. 1687 Settle Refl. Dryden 41 The King is aflicted for hearing his beloved Queen is strumpeted. |
| fig. a 1631 Donne Sat. v. 69 Oh, ne'r may Faire lawes white reverend name be strumpeted, To warrant thefts. 1661 Feltham Resolves ii. xxiii. (ed. 8) 229 Hee strumpets all his Businesse, that does disclose his secrets. |
2. To repute as a strumpet; to debase (a woman's fame, name, virtue) to that of a strumpet.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxvi. 6 And maiden vertue rudely strumpeted. 1632 Massinger Maid of Hon. iii. iii, That proud man, that was Deny'd the honour of your bed, yet durst With his untrue reports, strumpet your fame. 1633 Ford Broken Heart iv. ii. H 2 b, To all memory, Penthea's, poore Penthea's name is strumpeted. |
† 3. intr. to strumpet it, to play the strumpet.
| 1625 Sanderson Serm. (1674) I. 119 When that God..shall see that people..to break the Covenant of Wedlock with him, and to strumpet it with the daughters and Idols of Moab. |
Hence
ˈstrumpeting vbl. n.| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Mechation..fornication, Whoredom, strumpeting. a 1832 Bentham Mem. & Corr. Wks. 1843 X. 41 His life was one of gaming, drinking, and strumpeting. |