harlotry

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   dated and disparaging: prostitution, or the practice of engaging in sex for payment

   The old statute treated tavern keeping and harlotry as public-order offenses.

2. 2
   noun

   archaic: sexual conduct condemned as immoral or promiscuous

   The preacher used harlotry as a sweeping term for what he regarded as sexual immorality.

From harlot + -ry. The suffix -ry forms nouns denoting a practice, behavior, or class; here it turns the historically disparaging noun harlot into a name for the practice or conduct associated with it.

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