a. arch. Forms: 4 licheros, lycher(o)ous, le(t)cherouse, 4–5 leccherous, 4–6 licherous, 5 lychorous, luchrus, 5–6 lichorous, 6 lecheros, -us, licharus, leicherous, 6–8 letcherous, 4– lecherous. [a. OF. lecheros, etc., f. lecheur LECHER sb.: see -OUS. Cf. LICKEROUS.]
1. Addicted to lechiery.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 7989. Þys was a prest ryȝt amerous—And amerous men are leccherous.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 626. As hoot he was, and lecherous, as a sparwe.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xv. 69. Men er so prowde, so enuyous, so grete glotouns, and so licherous.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, I. 41. He said he was ane licheruss buil, That croynd bayth day and nycht.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 315. Nero that beast and lecherous monster.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 609. Remorselesse, Treacherous, Letcherous, kindles villaine!
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 79. Semiramis … a lecherous and bloudie woman was worshipped by the name of the Syrian Goddesse.
1773. Brydone, Sicily, xx. (1809), 213. Lazy, lying, lecherous monks.
1876. Blackie, Songs Relig. & Life, 125. Thy murderous, and lecherous race Have sat too long i’ the holy place.
b. Of action, thought, etc.: Consisting in or characterized by lechery.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 65. Licheros lif þei led.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. VII. 194. Ich had lykynge to lauhe of lecherous tales.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. lxxxvii. (1495), 583. It chasteth lecherous meuynges and maketh good mynde.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4328. And to na licherous lustes leeue ve oure membris.
1533. Gau, Richt Vay, 16. Thay … thinkkis lichorous thochttis.
1567. Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 216. Ȝit war his factis sa lichorus.
1611. Cotgr., Saffreté, wanton dallying, leacherous ieasting, lasciuious toying.
1884. Chr. Treasury, Feb., 97/2. Absalom’s plot to assassinate his eldest brother had no justification in the lecherous crime of that guilty brother.
c. Of drink, etc.: Inciting to lechery.
1382. Wyclif, Prov. xx. 1. A leccherous thing win.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. T., 221.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 25. Loth in hus lyue thorw lecherouse drynke Wykkydlich wroghte.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 152. He sett out sum leicherous lawis, that his flagitious gaird … mycht haue occasione frilie to louse a brydle to al thair appetites.
1632. Sherwood, Lecherous stuffe, poudre agrippine. [Cotgr., Pouldre Agrippine, any meat, that prouokes, or enables, vnto lust.]
† 2. = LICKEROUS: a. fond of good living, gluttonous; b. (of food) rich, dainty. Obs.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 112. The sight of the noble and lichorous metis. Ibid. (1483), G. de la Tour, B vij. How they ought not … to yeue flesshe ne lychorous metes to houndes. Ibid. (c. 1483), Dialogues, viii. 33. Car elle est moult gloutee, For she is moche lichorous.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), II. 228. With gluttony and lichorus appetyte.
Hence Lecherously adv., Lecherousness.
1340. Ayenb., 128. Þe guode mannes zone þet … leuede lecherusliche.
1382. Wyclif, Luke xv. 13. There he wastide his substaunce in lyuynge leccherously.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 1651. One leccherously lyving consumes his substaunce.
1551. Bible, Isa. lvi. Notes, They were … dryuen into ye profounde and deepe sleepe of ygnoraunce, of idlenes, of lecherousnesse, and of pride.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Luxuriosamente, lecherouslie.
1895. Min. 9th Nat. Council Congreg. Ch. U.S.A., 138. Laws against all manner of lecherousness.
