den of iniquity

plural dens of iniquity

1. A place of immoral behavior, often of a sexual type.

   "Shet up!" I snarled. "I'm jest payin' yuh back for all the pain and humiliation I suffered in this den of iniquity—"

   1944, Robert Howard, Texas John Alden

   2 more examples

   The young men made their preparations with alacrity, and, headed by this western patriarch, we proceeded at a rapid gait to surprize the tenants of this den of iniquity.

   1840, George Dabney, The History of an Adventurer

   Ms. Saint Phalle bought the converted inn with her husband, the Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely, in 1963; he died in 1991. Called Auberge au Cheval Blanc, it was once a brothel. "The villagers wanted an end to the den of iniquity, but then they did not like our sculptures, and for a while they would throw things at them," she says with a distinctive laugh, as wide open and explosive as her eyes.

   1993 October 7, Roger Cohen, quoting Niki de Saint Phalle, “At Home With: Niki de Saint Phalle; An Artist, Her Monsters, Her Two Worlds”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC