lewd Meaning, Definition & Usage

adjective satellite suggestive of or tending to moral looseness
salacious; obscene; raunchy.
- lewd whisperings of a dirty old man
- an indecent gesture
- obscene telephone calls
- salacious limericks
adjective satellite driven by lust; preoccupied with or exhibiting lustful desires
lascivious; libidinous; lustful.
- libidinous orgies

OE.lewed, lewd, lay, ignorant, vile, AS. lwed laical, belonging to the laity.

comparative Lewder ; superlative Lewdest

Not clerical; laic; laical; hence, unlearned; simple. Obs.
For if priest be foul, on whom we trust, No wonder is a lewed man to rust. Chaucer.

So these great clerks their little wisdom show To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they. Sit. J. Davies.
Belonging to the lower classes, or the rabble; idle and lawless; bad; vicious. Archaic Chaucer.
But the Jews, which believed not, . . . took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, . . . and assaulted the house of Jason. Acts xvii. 5.

Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief. Southey
.
Given to the promiscuous indulgence of lust; dissolute; lustful; libidinous. Dryden.
Suiting, or proceeding from, lustfulness; involving unlawful sexual desire; as, lewd thoughts, conduct, or language. Syn. -- Lustful; libidinous; licentious; profligate; dissolute; sensual; unchaste; impure; lascivious; lecherous; rakish; debauched. -- Lewd"ly, adv. -- Lewd"ness, n.