different between fleshly vs lewd

English

Etymology

From flesh +? -ly.

Adjective

fleshly (comparative fleshlier, superlative fleshliest)

1. Of or relating to the body.

   Synonyms: bodily, corporeal

   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act IV, Scene 2,^[1]

     […] in the body of this fleshly land,

     This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,

     Hostility and civil tumult reigns

     Between my conscience and my cousin’s death.

   • 1645, John Milton, “Il Penseroso” in Poems of Mr. John Milton, both English and Latin, London: Humphrey Moseley, p. 40,^[2]

     […] to unfold

     What Worlds, or what vast Regions hold

     The immortal mind that hath forsook

     Her mansion in this fleshly nook:

   • 1668, John Denham, “The Progress of Learning” Part 3, in Poems and Translations; with the Sophy, London: Jacob Tonson, 5th edition, 1709, p. 234,^[3]

     When from their fleshly Bondage they are free,

     Then what divine, and future things they see!

   • 1795, Richard Cumberland, Henry, London: Charles Dilly, Volume 3, Chapter 7, p. 58,^[4]

     those inward pains that agonize us more than all our fleshly wounds

   • 1926, Walter de la Mare, “Missing” in Best Stories of Walter de la Mare, London: Faber and Faber, 1942, p. 175,^[5]

     We shook hands—though I doubt if a mere fleshly contact can express much while the self behind it is dumb with instinctive distaste.

2. Of, relating to or resembling flesh; composed of flesh; having a lot of flesh.

   Synonym: fleshy

   • 1608, Thomas Middleton, A Mad World, My Masters, London: Walter Burre, Act II,^[6]

     […] lay on load enough vpon e’m, and spare e’m not, for the’re good plump fleshly Asses, and may well enough beare it:

   • 1793, uncredited translator, The Natural History of Birds by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, London: A. Strahan, T. Cadell and J. Murray, Volume 2, pp. 52-53,^[7]

     In almost all birds, except the carnivorous kinds, the male seems to have more power of development, which appears in their greater height, the strength of their muscles, and in certain excrescences, as fleshly membranes, spurs, &c. […]

   • 1970, Patrick White, The Vivisector, London: Penguin, Chapter 1, p. 14,^[8]

     He touched the leaves of some of the glossy bushes to find out whether they felt as fleshly as they looked. [At least one U.S. edition has fleshy]^[9]

3. Of or relating to pleasurable (often sexual) sensations.

   Synonyms: carnal, lascivious, sensual

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 1 Peter 2.11,^[10]

     […] abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

   • 1921, John Dos Passos, Three Soldiers, New York: Modern Library, 1932, Part 4, Chapter 2, p. 238,^[11]

     A wave of desire for furious fleshly enjoyments went through him, making him want steaming dishes of food drenched in rich, spice-flavored sauces; making him want to get drunk on strong wine; to roll on thick carpets in the arms of naked, libidinous women.

4. Of or relating to non-spiritual or non-religious matters.

   Synonyms: secular, worldly

   Antonyms: heavenly, spiritual

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 2 Corinthians 1.12,^[12]

     […] in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world […]

   • 1857, George Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life, Volume 2, Chapter 8,^[13]

     Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution: a self-obtrusive, over-hasty reformer complacently disclaiming all merit, while his friends call him a martyr, has not in reality a career the most arduous to the fleshly mind.

Derived terms

• fleshliness
• unfleshly

Translations

Adverb

fleshly (comparative more fleshly, superlative most fleshly)

1. (archaic) In a sensual way; in a sexual way; carnally.
   • 1992, Adam Thorpe, Ulverton, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994, p. 24,^[14]

     And the drunkard is with drink. And the ploughman is with his oxen. And the inhabitant of Ulverton doth loll fleshly abed.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lewed, lewd, leued (“unlearned, lay, lascivious”), from Old English l?wede (“unlearned, ignorant, lay”), of obscure origin; most likely a derivative of the past participle of l?wan (“to reveal, betray”) in the sense of "exposed as being unlearned" or "easily betrayed, clueless", from Proto-Germanic *l?wijan? (“to betray”), from *l?w? (“an opportunity, cause”), from Proto-Indo-European *l?w- (“to leave”). Or, according to the OED, from Vulgar Latin *laigo-, from Late Latin laicus (“of the people”).

Cognate with Old High German gil?en, firl?en (“to betray”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (gal?wjan, “to give over, betray”), Gothic ???????????? (l?w, “an opportunity, cause”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lju?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /lud/
• enPR: lo?od

• Rhymes: -u?d

• Homophone: leud

Adjective

lewd (comparative lewder, superlative lewdest)

1. Lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.
   • 2014 August 11, w:Dave Itzkoff, "Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63 in Suspected Suicide," New York Times

     Onstage he was known for ricochet riffs on politics, social issues and cultural matters both high and low; tales of drug and alcohol abuse; lewd commentaries on relations between the sexes; and lightning-like improvisations on anything an audience member might toss at him.

2. (obsolete) Lay; not clerical.
   • 1599, John Davies, Nosce Teipsum

     So these great clerks their little wisdom show / To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they.

3. (obsolete) Uneducated.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Again?t venemous tongues enpoy?oned with ?claunder and fal?e detractions &c.:

     My ?coles are not for unthriftes untaught,
     For frantick faitours half mad and half ?traught;
     But my learning is of another degree
     To taunt theim like liddrons, lewde as thei bee.

4. (obsolete) Vulgar, common; typical of the lower orders.

   • But the Jews, which believed not, […] took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, […] and assaulted the house of Jason.

   • 1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society

     Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief.

5. (obsolete) Base, vile, reprehensible.

Derived terms

• lewdsby
• lewdness
• lewdster

Translations

Noun

lewd (plural lewds)

1. A sexually suggestive image, particularly one which does not involve full nudity.
   • 1944, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 217, page 25:

     Nudes, lewds and smutty outhouse cards, although they can be bought in some of the rowdy joints, are a negligible percentage of the total, and are unobtainable in the chain stores, drugstores and travel stations which are the outlets for […]

   • 1996, Cigar Aficionado, page 309:

     […] also put it, he learned “the difference between nudes and lewds."

Verb

lewd (third-person singular simple present lewds, present participle lewding, simple past and past participle lewded)

1. To express lust; to behave in a lewd manner.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Etymology 2

Verb

lewd (third-person singular simple present lewds, present participle lewding, simple past and past participle lewded)

1. (slang) Alternative form of lude (“take the drug quaalude”)

Anagrams

• Weld, weld

Middle English

Adjective

lewd

1. Alternative form of lewed