a. Forms: α. 1–2 lǽwede, lǽwde, (2 ilewede, ileawede), 2–3 leawede, leawde, 2–6 lewed(e, 3 læwed, (Orm. læwedd), leouwede, loȝede, 3–5 leuid, 3–7 leude, 3–8 leud, 4 lewet, (? lowed), 4–5 lewid(e, lewyd, leewid, (louwed(e), ? lood, 5–7 leaud(e, 6 leawde, Sc. lewit, 6–7 lude, 4–7 lewde, 4– lewd. β. (chiefly north. and Sc.) 2–5 lawed, 3–4 laued, laud, 3–6 lawid(e, 4 lawyt, 4–6 lawd(e, 4–6 (9 arch.) lawit. [OE. lǽwede, of difficult etymology.
The sense suggests formation on Rom. *laigo:—eccl. L. lāicus (see LAY a.) with suffix -ede -ED2; but it is not easy to see the phonological possibility of this. The attempt to trace the word to a late L. type *lāicātus (u stem) is still more open to objection. It has been proposed to obviate the phonetic difficulties by assuming influence from the vb. lǽwan to betray; but the sense is too remote, and lǽwede is not participial in form.]
† 1. Lay, not in holy orders, not clerical. Also absol. Obs.
c. 890. trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. xii[i]. (1890), 428. Þara manna sum wæs … bescoren preost, sum wes læwde [v.r. læwede], sum wæs wifmon. Ibid., xiii[i]. 436. Sum wær inn læwdum hade [L. vir in laico habitu].
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 131. Ihadede men he muneȝeð wel to lerene ilewede men. Ihadede and lewede feier lif and clene to leden.
a. 1290. Beket, 574, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 123. Ȝif bi-twene tweie lewede men were ani striuingue, Oþur bi-tuene a lewed man and a clerk.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 26143. If þou mai no preist to wine, þus scau a leud [Fairf. lawed] man þi sine.
13[?]. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 269. Hit wol a-vayle boþe lewed and clerk.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Sam. xxi. 4. I haue not leeuyd loouys [Vulg. laicos panes] at hoond, but oonli hooli breed.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 502. For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste No wonder is a lewed man to ruste.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xiii. 60. Þai hafe þaire crownes schauen, þe clerkes rownde and þe lawed men foure cornerd.
1530. Lyndesay, Test. Papyngo, 1002. Lawit men hes, now, religious men in curis.
1553. Becon, Reliques of Rome (1563), 246*. Al thoe bene accursed that purchasen writtes or letters of any leude courte.
1819. W. Tennant, Papistry Storm’d (1827), 212. The hail o’ them, by lawit fists, Were haurl’d and howkit frae their kists.
† b. Lewd frere, a lay-brother. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 41. Late lewid freris seie four & twenti pater nostris for matynes.
c. 1425. St. Eliz. of Spalbech, in Anglia, VIII. 116/30. Wee … made hym a conuers, þat is to seye, a lewde frere.
c. 1483. Caxton, Dialogues, vii. 24. Bogars, lewd freris.
1530. Palsgr., 239/1. Leude frere, bovrdican.
† 2. Unlearned, unlettered, untaught. Obs.
a. 1225. Juliana, 2. Alle lewede [v.r. leawede] men þat understonden ne mahen latines ledene.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 249. To laud and Inglis man i spell þat understandes þat i tell.
c. 1325. Poem temp. Edw. II. (Percy), xix. Then is a lewed priest No better than a jay.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 125. Lereþ hit þis lewed men for lettrede hit knoweþ.
c. 1430. Art of Nombryng (E.E.T.S.), 3. This boke is called þe boke of algorym, or Augrym after lewder vse.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., vii. 143. Both to lawd man and to clark.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, Pref. 412. I say nocht this of Chaucer for offence Bot till excuse my lawit insuffitience.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 224. I have maid this translation mair for pleseir of lawit men, than any vane curius clerkis.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, I. i. (Arb.), 21. Making … the poore man rich, the lewd well learned, the coward couragious.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 31. Much adoe there is here, and great debate betweene learned men; and contrariwise those of the leaud and ignorant multitude.
† b. absol., esp. in the phrases learned (or lered) and lewed, lewed and clerks. Obs.
c. 1200. Ormin, 967. And mikell hellpe to þe follc, to læredd & to læwedd.
c. 1205. Lay., 31830. Quelen þa lareden, quelen þa leouweden.
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 4020 (MS. A.). Ȝong and elde, lewed and lered.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 4424. And for the case is vnknowen be course to be lewd, Here sumwhat I say.
c. 1470. Harding, Chron. CCXLI. vi. Thei bee as manly, learned and lewed, As any folke.
1529. More, Dyaloge, III. Wks. 224/2. The Jewes bee not letted to reade theyr law bothe learned & lewde.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 45. This, lewde and learned, by common experience, know to be most trewe.
† c. Of speech and the like: Rude, artless.
c. 1425. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 403. Othyr mynstrall had they none, safe Þan gan to carpe Or hys lewde bagpype.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. Prol. 21. With bad harsk speche and lewit barbour tong.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, Prol. 326. For commoun folk will call the [this book] lawit and lidder.
† 3. Belonging to the lower orders; common, low, vulgar, ‘base.’ Obs. (In the latest quot. used arch. with allusion to sense 7.)
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 40. Sum tyme weren mounkes lewede men, as seintis in Jerusalem.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 408 (Harl. MS.). Þe secounde is to chese þe lewedest [other MSS. lowest, loweste] place ouer al.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 568. He loueþ … lowynge of lewed men in Lentenes tyme.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, XI. 266. Rewid in his mynd at it was hapnyt sa, Sa lewd a deid to lat him wndyrta.
1548. W. Patten, Exped. Scot., H ij b. Howbeit hereby I cannot count ony lost whear but a fewe leude souldiers ran rashely out of array without standard or Captayn.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 5339. Rychtso the sterris thay do compare To the lawd common populare.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, II. i. 25. Many men … shall you see in a lewd Ale house.
1612. Davies, Why Ireland, etc. (1787), 173. The march-law, which in the statutes of Kilkenny, is said to be no law, but a lewd custom.
1640. Yorke, Union Hon., 252. Robert Riddesdale, Captaine of the lewd people in Northamptonshire.
[1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, i. Wks. VIII. 179. A lewd tavern for the revels and debauches of banditti, assassins, bravos, smugglers, and their more desperate paramours.]
† 4. Ignorant (implying a reproach); foolish, unskilful, bungling; ill-bred, ill-mannered. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 409. Þis is þe lewiderste fendis skile þat euere cam out of his leesingis.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 1031. Ye men shul been as lewed as gees.
a. 1420. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 3864. I am as lewed and dulle as is an asse.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., viii. 21 (Harl. MS.). Þes too knyȝtis … þe wise knyȝt and þe lewde.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., V. ii. 488. A lewder and febler skile or argument can noman make.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1874), I. 60. Alas the Shepherd is lewder than the shepe.
1522. World & Child (Roxb. Club), C ij b. Ye, I praye the, leue thy lewde claterynge.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 18. The small discretion of many leude Scholemasters.
1570. Homilies, II. Agst. Wilful Rebell., IV. (1859), 581. Not those wounds which are painted in a clout by some lewd painter.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 961. Amurath … rated them all exceedingly, reproving their lewd counsell.
1620. J. Wilkinson, Coroners & Sherifes, 75. A lewd or an ignorant undersherif may both undoe his high Sherife and himselfe.
a. 1639. Marmion, Antiquary, II. i. (1641), D 1 b. I might have … gone on In the lewd way of loving you.
1710. Philips, Pastorals, ii. 73. A lewd Desire strange Lands and Swains to know.
† 5. Of persons, their actions, etc.: Bad, vile, evil, wicked, base; unprincipled, ill-conditioned; good-for-nothing, worthless, ‘naughty.’ Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Manciple’s T., 80. The lewedeste wolf þat she may fynde Or leest of reputacion.
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), III. viii. 55. Al be hit that for somtyme theyr lewd lyf displesid to them seluen.
c. 1481. E. Paston, in P. Lett., III. 279. Plese ȝow … to forgeve me, and also my wyffe of owr leude offence that we have not don ower dute.
1538. Starkey, England, I. iv. 139. Every lude felow, now-a-days, and idul lubbur, that can other rede or syng, makyth hymselfe prest.
1569. Golding, Heminges Post., Ded. 2. The Scripture accounted him a leaude servant, that hidde his Talent in the ground.
1581. Savile, Tacitus, Hist., I. lxxxiii. (1591), 46. A state gotten by lewde meanes [L. scelere quæsitum] cannot be retayned.
a. 1607. Markham, in Topsell’s Four-f. Beasts, 415. If the Smith that driueth such a naile be so lewd, as he wil not looke vnto it before the horse depart.
1611. Bible, Acts xvii. 5. Certaine lewd fellowes [Gr. ἄνδρας πονηρούς] of the baser sort.
1633. T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., I. viii. 58. Dermond O’Conner hath played a lewd part amongst us heere.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 193. So since into his Church lewd Hirelings climbe.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 169. To desist from his lewd Courses of Robbing and Stealing.
1709. J. Johnson, Clergym. Vade M., II. p. c. So the lewd boy when he had set his mother’s house on fire because she had corrected him … cried out [etc.].
[1829. Southey, Sir T. More (1831), I. 97. If not ashamed to beg, too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief.]
† 6. Of things: Bad, worthless, poor, sorry.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 163. Chastite withouten Charite … Is as lewed as a Laumpe þat no liht is Inne.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 115. Hys merthys wer but lewed, He was so sore dred of dethe.
1462. Paston Lett., II. 107. He hathe here of Avereyes xxiiij. tune wyn, whereof at the long wey he shal make the seyd Averey a lewd rekenyng.
1575. Churchyard, Chippes (1817), 107. For this assault, lewd ladders, vile and nought The souldiours had, which were to shorte God wot.
1581. T. Howell, Deuises (1879), 245. Ne lewde is he on whom lewde luck doth light.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 65. A Veluet dish: Fie, fie, ’tis lewd and filthy.
1618. Fletcher, Loyal Subj., III. iii. I love thy face … Tis a lewd one, So truely ill Art cannot mend it.
1678. Mrs. Behn, Sir Patient Fancy, I. i. Then, Madam, I write the lewdest hand.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Josephus, Antiq., I. xvi. (1733), 21. His way lay through Macedonia … which … is a lewd and incommodious Passage for Travellers.
7. [Developed from 5.] Lascivious, unchaste. (The surviving sense.)
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s Prol., 37. Lat be thy lewed dronken harlotrye.
c. 1430. Freemasonry, 620. In holy churche lef nyse wordes Of lewed speche, and fowle wordes.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., II. vi. (1895), 195. The peruerse and malicious flickeringe inticementes of lewde and vnhoneste desyres.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., III. vii. 72. He is not lulling on a lewd Loue-Bed.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., X. lix. (1612), 259. Lewde Ammon, thou didst lust in deede, and then thy Rape reiect.
1634. Milton, Comus, 465. When lust … by leud and lavish act of sin Lets in defilement to the inward parts.
1682. Burnet, Rights Princes, v. 176. Being a lewd and vicious Prince, who had delivered himself up to his pleasures.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, IV. i. He had been seen in the company of lewd women.
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 38, ¶ 12. The lewd inflame the lewd.
1838. Lytton, Leila, I. iv. Their harlot songs, and their dances of lewd delight.
1871. R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, lxiv. 147. If once lewd pleasure attain unruly possession.
1883. ‘Ouida,’ Wanda, I. 296. A singer of lewd songs.
