Lewd (?), a. [Compar. Lewder (?); superl. Lewdest.] [OE.lewed, lewd, lay, ignorant, vile, AS. lwed laical, belonging to the laity.]
1.
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.
2.
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
.
3.
Given to the promiscuous indulgence of lust; dissolute; lustful; libidinous.
Dryden.
4.
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.
© Webster 1913.