LEWD a.
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 .…
LORETTE n.
In France, a name for a woman who is supported by her lovers, and devotes herself to idleness, show, and pleasure; -- so called from the church of Notre Dame de Lorette, in Paris, near which many of them resided.
MAY v.
competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can. How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health ! Spenser. For what he [the king] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible. Bacon. For of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are t…