debauch Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
    bacchanalia; saturnalia; bacchanal; riot; drunken revelry; debauchery; orgy.
  2. verb corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
    pervert; debase; profane; misdirect; subvert; deprave; vitiate; corrupt; demoralise; demoralize.
    • debauch the young people with wine and women
    • Socrates was accused of corrupting young men
    • Do school counselors subvert young children?
    • corrupt the morals

WordNet

De*bauch" transitive verb & intransitive verb
Etymology
F. débaucher, prob. originally, to entice away from the workshop; pref. dé- (L. dis- or de) + OF. bauche, bauge, hut, cf. F. bauge lair of a wild boar; prob. from G. or Icel., cf. Icel. balkr. See Balk, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Debauched ; present participle & verbal noun Debauching
Definitions
  1. To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one's self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army.
    Learning not debauched by ambition. Burke.
    A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened before he can arrive to the height of sin. South.
    Her pride debauched her judgment and her eyes. Cowley.
De*bauch" noun
Etymology
Cf. F. débauche.
Definitions
  1. Excess in eating or drinking; intemperance; drunkenness; lewdness; debauchery.
    The first physicians by debauch were made. Dryden.
  2. An act or occasion of debauchery.
    Silenus, from his night's debauch, Fatigued and sick. Cowley.

Webster 1913