debauch

Meaning

Noun

1. An individual act of debauchery.
2. An orgy.

Verb

1. To morally corrupt (someone); to seduce.
2. To debase (something); to lower the value of (something).
3. To indulge in revelry.

Synonyms

corrupt

deprave

pervert

debauchery

riot

orgy

dissipate

saturnalia

debase

vitiate

bacchanal

profane

bacchanalia

ruin

demoralize

subvert

drunken revelry

taint

lechery

depravity

misdirect

demoralise

profligate

seduce

dissipation

rape

revel

revelry

spoil

squander

wantonness

whore

womanizing

sumptuous feast

bastardise

bastardize

batter

blast

blight

booze

break

carouse

deface

deflower

deform

despoil

dissipated

drag down

hellbender

jaundice

lewdness

licentiousness

mar

murder

pollute

profligacy

promiscuity

rakishness

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɪˈbɔːt͡ʃ/

Etymology

1590s, from Middle French desbaucher (“entice from work or duty”), from Old French desbauchier (“to lead astray”), from des- + bauch (“beam”), from Frankish *balkō, from Proto-Germanic *balkô, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, plank”); latter origin of balk.
Evolution of sense unclear; may be literally “to shave/trim wood to make a beam” or may be “to leave/lure someone from a workshop”, Frankish *balkō perhaps also meaning “workshop”.
Possible corruption by way of Anglicised French term bord (“edge, kerb”): kerb crawling as a synonym for prostitution. Parallels in modern German: Bordsteinschwalbe (“prostitute”, literally “Kerb-stone-swallow”). English words bawd, bawdiness may be similarly connected.