Adjacent Words

Prostitute definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PROS'TITUTE, v.t. [L.prostituo; pro and statuo, to set.]
1. To offer freely to a lewd use, or to indiscriminate lewdness.
Do not prostitute thy daughter. Leviticus 19.
2. To give up to any vile or infamous purpose; to devote to any thing base; to sell to wickedness; as, to prostitute talents to the propagation of infidel principles, to prostitute the press to the publication of blasphemy.
3. To offer or expose upon vile terms or to unworthy persons.
PROS'TITUTE, a. Openly devoted to lewdness; sold to wickedness or to infamous purposes.
Made bold by want and prostitute for bread.
PROS'TITUTE, n. A female given to indiscriminate lewdness; a strumpet.
1. A base hireling; a mercenary; one who offers himself to infamous employments for hire.
No hireling she, no prostitute to praise.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money [syn: prostitute, cocotte, whore, harlot, bawd, tart, cyprian, fancy woman, working girl, sporting lady, lady of pleasure, woman of the street] v
1: sell one's body; exchange sex for money

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (-tuted; -tuting) Etymology: Latin prostitutus, past participle of prostituere, from pro- before + statuere to station — more at pro-, statute Date: 1530 1. to offer indiscriminately for sexual intercourse especially for money 2. to devote to corrupt or unworthy purposes ; debase <prostitute one's talents> • prostitutor noun II. adjective Date: 1563 devoted to corrupt purposes ; prostituted III. noun Date: 1613 1. a. a woman who engages in promiscuous sexual intercourse especially for money ; whore b. a male who engages in sexual and especially homosexual practices for money 2. a person (as a writer or painter) who deliberately debases his or her talents (as for money)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a a woman who engages in sexual activity for payment. b (usu. male prostitute) a man or boy who engages in sexual activity, esp. with homosexual men, for payment. 2 a person who debases himself or herself for personal gain. --v.tr. 1 (esp. refl.) make a prostitute of (esp. oneself). 2 a misuse (one's talents, skills, etc.) for money. b offer (oneself, one's honour, etc.) for unworthy ends, esp. for money. Derivatives: prostitution n. prostitutor n. Etymology: L prostituere prostitut- offer for sale (as PRO-(1), statuere set up, place)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prostitute Pros"ti*tute, n. [L. prostituta.] 1. A woman giver to indiscriminate lewdness; a strumpet; a harlot. 2. A base hireling; a mercenary; one who offers himself to infamous employments for hire. No hireling she, no prostitute to praise. --Pope.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prostitute Pros"ti*tute, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prostituted; p. pr. & vb. n. Prostituting.] [L. prostitutus, p. p. of prostituere to prostitute; pro before, forth + statuere to put, place. See Statute.] 1. To offer, as a woman, to a lewd use; to give up to lewdness for hire. ``Do not prostitute thy daughter.'' --Lev. xix. 29. 2. To devote to base or unworthy purposes; to give up to low or indiscriminate use; as, to prostitute talents; to prostitute official powers. --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prostitute Pros"ti*tute, a. [L. prostitutus, p. p.] Openly given up to lewdness; devoted to base or infamous purposes. Made bold by want, and prostitute for bread. --Prior

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(prostitutes) A prostitute is a person, usually a woman, who has sex with men in exchange for money. He admitted last week he paid for sex with a prostitute. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Misuse, abuse, misapply, pervert, make a bad use of. II. n. See Strumpet.

Moby Thesaurus

B-girl, Cyprian, Paphian, abuse, adulterate, alloy, bawd, befoul, bimbo, brass, call girl, canker, catamite, cheapen, chippy, coarsen, cocotte, confound, contaminate, convert, corrupt, courtesan, cruiser, daughter of joy, debase, debauch, defalcate, defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, demean, denature, deprave, desecrate, despoil, devalue, distort, divert, drab, embezzle, erring sister, fallen, fallen woman, fille de joie, foul, harlot, hetaera, hooker, hustler, hustling, infect, loose woman, lower, maladminister, meretricious, meretrix, misapply, misappropriate, misemploy, mishandle, mismanage, misuse, moll, nightwalker, on the, on the town, painted woman, pander, pave, peculate, pervert, pickup, pilfer, pimp, poison, pollute, poule, pro, procure, profane, prostituted, quean, ravage, ravish, scarlet, scarlet woman, sell out, stew, streetwalker, streetwalking, strumpet, taint, tart, tomato, trollop, trull, twist, ulcerate, unfortunate woman, violate, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, white slave, whore, whorish, working girl