For if a 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. --Sir. 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.