subs. (old).—A wretch; a worthless person. As adj. = lewd, wanton; hence BROTHEL-HOUSE (now shortened to brothel) = a BAWDY-HOUSE (q.v.).
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. BROTHEL-HOUSE, a Bawdy-House.
1847. HALLIWELL, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, etc., s.v. BROTHEL … The term was often applied to a harlot, especially by later writers. Elyot translates meretrix, ‘an harlot, a brothel,’ and the word also occurs in Skelton and Piers Ploughman.
