strumpet

English

WOTD – 19 August 2015

Etymology

From Middle English strumpet, strompet, strumpett. Further origin uncertain; possibly from Middle Dutch strompen (“to stalk”) or strompe (“stocking”); or Late Latin stuprum (“violation”) or stuprare (“to violate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɹʌm.pɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmpɪt

Noun

strumpet (plural strumpets)

1. A female prostitute
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], pages 88–89:

     Em[ilia]. Fie, fie vpon thee ſtrumpet. / Bian[ca]. I am no ſtrumpet, but of life as honeſt, / As you, that thus abuſe me. / Em[ilia]. As I: fough, fie vpon thee.

2. A woman who is very sexually active.
3. A female adulterer.
4. A mistress.
5. (derogatory) A trollop; a whore.
   • 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Symptomes of Iealousie, Fear, Sorrow, Suspition, Strange Actions, Gestures, Outrages, Locking Up, Oathes, Trials, Lawes, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed [by Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 3, member 2, subsection 1, page 610:

     He cals her on a ſudden, all to naught; ſhe is a ſtrumpet, a light huswife, a bitch, an arrant whore.

   • 1900, Mark Twain, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Updated:

     We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat; Greed is seeking out commercial souls before his judgement seat; O, be swift, ye clods, to answer him! be jubilant my feet! Our god is marching on!

   • 1936, Anthony Bertram, Like the Phoenix:

     However, terrible as it may seem to the tall maiden sisters of J.P.'s in Queen Anne houses with walled vegetable gardens, this courtesan, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, street-walker, this trollop, this trull, this baggage, this hussy, this drab, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, demirep, demimondaine, this wanton, this fornicatress, this doxy, this concubine, this frail sister, this poor Queenie--did actually solicit me, did actually say 'coming home to-night, dearie' and my soul was not blasted enough to call a policeman.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:prostitute
• See Thesaurus:promiscuous woman
• See Thesaurus:sexual partner

Derived terms

• crumpet

Translations

A prostitute

• Bulgarian: проститу́тка (bg) f (prostitútka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 婊子 (zh) (biǎozi), 妓女 (zh) (biǎozi)

• Czech: kurva (cs) f
• Dutch: hoer (nl) f, lichtekooi (nl) f
• French: pute (fr) f, putain (fr) f, roulure (fr) f
• German: Hure (de) f, Dirne (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: κασαλβάς f (kasalbás)

• Irish: striapach (ga) f
• Italian: puttana (it) f, sgualdrina (it) f, battona (it) f, squillo (it) f, peripatetica (it) f
• Macedonian: курва f (kurva), ченгија f (čengija) (archaic)
• Ottoman Turkish: قالتاق (kaltak)
• Polish: cichodajka (pl) f, ladacznica (pl) f
• Portuguese: puta (pt) f, meretriz (pt) f
• Russian: проститу́тка (ru) f (prostitútka), потаску́ха (ru) f (potaskúxa)
• Scottish Gaelic: strìopach (gd) f, siùrsach f
• Spanish: puta (es) f, golfa (es) f, ramera (es) f
• Swedish: hora (sv) c, slinka (sv) c
• Thai: โสเภณี (th) (sǒo-pee-nii)

Verb

strumpet (third-person singular simple present strumpets, present participle strumpeting, simple past and past participle strumpeted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To debauch.
   • c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], line 153:

     My blood is mingled with the crime of lust; / For if we two be one, and thou play false, / I do digest the poison of thy flesh, / Being strumpeted by thy contagion.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To dishonour with the reputation of being a strumpet; to belie; to slander.
   • 1632, Philip Massinger, The Maid of Honour:

     With his untrue reports, strumpet your fame.

Anagrams

• Trumpets, trumpets