intercourse

plural intercourses

1. countableuncountableCommunication, conversation.

   this sweet intercourse of looks and smiles

   1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   4 more examples

   Yet do I vnderſtand your darkeſt language, / Your treads ath'toe, your ſecret iogges and vvringes: / Your entercourſe of glaunces: euery tittle / Of your cloſe Amorous rites I vnderſtand, / They ſpeake as loud to mee, as if you ſaid, / My deareſt Dariotto, I am thine.

   1604 (first performance), George Chapman, Al Fooles: A Comedy, […], London: […] [George Eld] for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, Act II, signature [D4], verso

   And indeed, what more reliable authority could Berlioz have found than Cavaillé-Coll, with whom he had frequent intercourse, and who would have been better qualified than any one else to give him correct information?

   1906, Edward Suddard, chapter 4, in The Technique of the Modern Orchestra^(https://imslp.org/wiki/Technique_de_l%27orchestre_moderne_(Widor%2C_Charles-Marie)), translation of Technique de l'orchestre moderne by Charles-Marie Widor, page 139

   It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   It might seem that with age places gained upon persons in interest to my mind; and that my pleasure grew in intercourse with things rather than with ideas.

   1952 May, George Santayana, “I Like to Be a Stranger”, in The Atlantic

2. countableuncountableDealings between countries.
3. countableuncountableDealings with people, including commerce and trade.
4. countableuncountableSexual intercourse, especially that involving humans and especially penile-vaginal interconnection.

   When we situate climax during intercourse as the bullseye, we gate off the idiosyncrasy and experimentation that are the wellspring of sexual pleasure.

   2023 March 21, Zoe Williams, “The orgasm gap – and how to close it: ‘Don’t equate sex and penetration’”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2023

   Synonyms: coitus, aphrodisia, carnal knowledge, coitus, coition, commerce, commixtion, congress

present singular third person intercourses · participle present intercoursing · participle past intercoursed · past intercoursed

1. intransitivenonstandardTo have sexual intercourse.

   Synonyms: fornicate, have sex, make love

1. A particular town in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States