Forms: 1–6 hore, 2–3 heore, 4–6 hoore, houre, 5–6 hour, 6 howr(e, howir, hoare, 6–7 whoor(e, whoar, 6– whore; Sc. 4–6 huir, 4–7 (9 arch.) hure, (6 hwr, huire); in comb. 2–7 hor-, 5 hoer-, 6 hoor-, whure-, wor-, 6–7 whor-; Sc. 5–7 hur-, 6 huyr-, hwyr-. [Late OE. hóre, corresp. to (M)LG. hóre, MDu. hoere (Du. hoer), OHG. huora (MHG. huere, G. hure), ON. hóra:—OTeut. *χōrōn-, f. root represented also by ON. hórr, Goth. hôrs adulterer, OFris. hôr (also overhôr, urhôr), OHG. huor, ON. hór adultery, MLG. horre, MDu. huerre, OHG. huorra adulterer (:—*χōrjon-), and OFris. (over)hôra to fornicate, MDu. hoeren, OHG. huorôn (G. huren). ON. hóra, Goth. hôrinôn; Indo-Eur. qār- appears in L. cārus dear, OIr. cara friend, caraim I love, Lettish kārs lascivious.
From the late occurrence of OE. hóre, it may be inferred that it was a. ON. hóra, together with hór adultery, hórcwene (ON. hórkona) adulteress, hórdóm WHOREDOM, hóring whoremonger being in that case an English formation from it with -ING3.
For the spelling with wh, which became current in the 16th century, see WH.
Whore is now confined to coarse and abusive speech, except in occas. echoes of historical expressions, as the whore of Babylon. The compounds are for the most part obs. or arch.]
1. A woman who prostitutes herself for hire; a prostitute, harlot.
a. 1100. Aldhelm Gloss., I. 2940 (Napier 79/2). Prostituta pellax, i. meretrix quæ prostat, i. mendax, leas fyrnhicʓe, hore. Ibid., 3329. 89/1. Meretricum, horena.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 103. He … maceð of cristes leoman heoranna leoman. [Cf. 1 Cor. vi. 15 Tollens Christi membra, faciam membra meretricis?]
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 29. Ȝef þu … best rum-handed to glewmen and to hores.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 26855. Hore or okerer, or Iogolour, Bot þai þair mister wille forsak, For fals penantes men sal þam tak.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 310. Whanne tweyne horis stryvede whos was þe child þat lyvede. Ibid. (1382), Luke xv. 30. This thi sone, which deuouride his substaunce with hooris.
1483. Cath. Angl., 192/2. An Hure, vbi a common woman.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., II. vii. (1867), 71. Hop hoore, pipe theefe.
1595. in Maitl. Club Misc., I. 73. Ane ressavear of huiris and harlottis in her hous.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., III. ii. 338 (Qo.). The whores cald him mandrake.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., II. 68. Let men take heed of Lais, Corinths whoore.
1728. Young, Love Fame, I. 67. The whore is proud her beauties are the dread Of peevish virtue, and the marriage-bed.
1894. Kipling, Seven Seas, The ‘Mary Gloster,’ 76. Your rooms at college was beastly—more like a whore’s than a man’s.
b. More generally: An unchaste or lewd woman; a fornicatress or adulteress. To play the whore (of a woman), to commit fornication or adultery.
In early use often as a coarse term of abuse. Occas. (esp. with possessive) applied opprobriously to a concubine or kept mistress; also with distinguishing epithet to a catamite.
c. 1205. Lay., 7028. Nes nan swa god wif i þon londe þe he walde … þet he ne makede hore.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 4082. He sluȝ Zabri … Hise hore bi-neðe and him abuuen.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5661. A fol womman in spousbruche he huld vnder is wif. Sein dunston him sede wel þat it was a luþer lif…. Wroþ was þe king & is hore þat he hor folie wiþsede.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., i. 2. I knowe well þat my wif is an hore.
1535. in Lett. Suppr. Morast. (Camden), 58. The pope … gave hym licens to kepe an hore.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. xvi. 28. Thou hast played the whore also with the Assirians.
1547. Burgh Rec. Stirling (1887), I. 48. Marioun Ray amerciat for trubling of Agnes Hendersoun, calland hir huir and theiff.
1561. Child-Marriages, 78. Beynge demaundid why she did,… contrary to the Lawe of wedlocke, play the hoore.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. iv. 137. Leaue thy drinke and thy whore. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., V. i. 20. Ther. … Thou art thought to be Achilles male Varlot. Patro. … What’s that? Ther. Why his masculine Whore.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, V. Pantagr. Prognost., 237. Ingles, Fricatrices, He-whores.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., I. iv. Gamesters and Highwaymen are generally very good to their Whores, but they are very Devils to their Wives.
1749. Chesterf., Lett. to Son, 7 Feb. Achilles … had so little regard for his country, that he would not act in defence of it, because he had quarrelled with Agamemnon about a w——e.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 1160. Calling a married woman or a single one a whore is not actionable, because fornication and adultery are subjects of spiritual not temporal censures. [Referring to a case, an. 1703, in Raymond’s Rep. (1743), 1004.]
transf. 1575. Gammer Gurton, I. iii. Gyb, our cat, in the milke-pan she spied … ‘Ah, hore! out, thefe!’ she cryed aloud.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 745. Their Epithites … attributed vnto them [sc. wolves] among seueral Authors are … demonstrations of their disposition; as sowre, wilde,… fierce, bold, greedy, whoare, flesh-eater.
2. fig.; spec. in biblical use, applied to a corrupt or idolatrous community (cf. WHOREDOM 2), and hence in controversial use, esp. in phr. the whore of Babylon, to the Church of Rome (in allusion to Rev. xvii. 1, 5, etc.).
1382. Wyclif, Nahum iii. 4. The hoore fair and able [1611 wel-fauoured harlot],… whiche solde folkis in her fornycaciouns. Ibid., Rev. xvii. 1. The dampnacioun of the greet hoore [1611 Whore; R. V. 1881 harlot],… with whiche kynges of erthe diden fornycacioun.
1530. Tindale, Pract. Prelates, F v b. The greate baude the hore of babylon [sc. the Pope].
c. 1540. Pilgr. T., 342, in Thynne’s Animadv. (1875), 86. Of antichristes fall I will … sum-thing tell; & of this howr, this leyder to hell.
1545[?]. Brinklow, Compl., xiii. (1874), 30. That abhomynable whore of Babylon (Rome I meane).
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IV. 139. I may say of Constantinople…; A painted Whoore.
c. 1640. in Maidment, Sc. Pasquils (1868), 132. So you to Christian Kings shall break the ground, To loath the scarlet whoor.
c. 1646. Milton, Sonn. Forcers Consc., 3. Because you have thrown of your Prelate Lord,… To seise the widdow’d whore Pluralitie.
1684. Southerne, Disappointm., II. i. But if her thoughts run foul, her mind’s a Whore.
1704. C. Leslie, Wolf Stript (ed. 4), 31. They call her Episcopacy a Ragg of the Whore.
1743. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 3 Oct. He would have piqued himself on calling the Pope the w——e of Babylon.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xix. Image worship, and surplices, and sic like rags o’ the muckle hure that sitteth on seven hills.
3. † Whore’s son, son of a whore = WHORESON. Whore’s bird (also as one word, and dial. wosbird): properly, the child [see BIRD 1 c] of a whore, a bastard; but usually as a mere vulgar term of abuse or reprobation. So whore’s kitling.
c. 1500. Melusine, 300. He cryed with a hye voys,… ‘hourys sone & fals geaunt, comme speke with me!’
1673. J. W[ade], Vinegar & Mustard (1873), 17. Thou was a base whore’s bird.
1675. Char. Town-Gallant, 5. He admires the Eloquence of, Son of a Whore, when tis pronounced with a good Grace, and therefore applyes it to every thing; So that if his Pipe be faulty, or his Purge Gripe too much, Tis a Son of a Whore Pipe, and a Spawn of a Birch Purge.
1694. Echard, Plautus, 9. They’d set some sturdy Whores-bird to … beat out ha’f a dozen o’ my Teeth.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Whores-kitling, a Bastard.
1700. T. Brown, trans. Fresny’s Amusem., 21. Another Son of a Whore yells louder than Homer’s Stentor.
1701. Sedley, Grumbler, I. i. I will first let you see how I am serv’d by this whoresbird.
1772. Graves, Spir. Quix., IV. ix. D—mn you all together, for a pack of whores-birds as you are!
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. ii. ‘Imp’dent old wosbird!’ says he, ‘I’ll break the bald head on un.’
1891. T. Hardy, Tess, xxi. Jack Dollop, a ’hor’s-bird of a fellow.
4. Comb., as whore-call, -haunter; whore-like adj.; whore-hunt v., intr. to go after whores, practise fornication: so whore-hunter, -hunting (also fig.; in quot. 1714, spying after whores to extort hush-money); † whore-keeper, one who keeps company with whores, a fornicator; † whore-man, a fornicator; † whore-play [PLAY sb. 6 c], intercourse with whores, fornication; whore-sty (nonce-wd.), a brothel; † whore-toll, a payment made by way of compounding for fornication or concubinage.
a. 1692. Shadwell, Volunteers, V. i. These Fiddles are Fop-Calls, and *Whore-Calls.
1580. Orders for Orphanes, A iv. If any manchilde be a Thiefe, or a Fellon, or a common *whore haunter.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem., II. xx. (1612), 358. He went apart into Auignion, and there staied of purpose to doe nothing but *whore-hunt.
1786. Burns, Twa Dogs, 164. He … Whore-hunting amang groves o’ myrtles.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 666/1. Scortatores, which signifieth in englishe *whoore hunters.
1600. W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 81. A notorious drunkard, whorehunter, cousiner, vsurer, &c.
1532. Frith, Mirror (1533), A v b. Yf … the watcheman be a slepe,… or gone … a *whorehuntinge.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, II. ii. 124. That is spirituall adulterie & whore-hunting, when men doe partly loue and worship God, and yet … giue reuerence to straunge … Gods.
1620. Westward for Smelts (Percy Soc.), 44. Her husband … had used to goe on whore-hunting in the night.
1714. Ramsay, Elegy on J. Cowper, iii. Of Whore-hunting he gat his Fill, And made be ’t mony a Pint and Gill.
1530. Tindale, Pract. Prel., B iij b. If any synne agenst ye doctrine of Christ … so yt he be a dronckarde & an *horekeper.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 68. There shall not be a whore among the daughters of Israell, nor a whore-keeper among the sonnes of Israel.
1550. Crowley, Epigr., 1288. Our wiues do passe their whoris in *whorelyke deckynge.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 4072. Ðo seide god to moysen, Ðe meistres of ðise *hore-men,… Ðe bidde ic hangen ðat he ben. Ibid., 530. Caymes sunes wroȝten vn-laȝe, Wið breðere wifes *hore-plaȝe.
1621. Bp. Mountagu, Diatribæ, 196. [Churches] turne[d] to barnes, stables, hogsties, and that which is worse, *whore-sties.
1545. Coverdale, Def. Chr. Man, E ij b. Romishe prestes … take harlottes … whan they will,… and aske no question for conscience sake, so that they paye the bishope the *whore toll.
