whoredom

plural whoredoms

1. uncountableusuallyThe state of being a whore, prostitution; sexual indulgence, fornication.First known use 12th c.

   Force not your slave-girls to whoredom that ye may seek enjoyment of the life of the world, if they would preserve their chastity.

   1930, Pickthall, Marmaduke, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, translation of The Qur'an, surah 24, verse 33

   3 more examples

   And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 38:24

   Mother[…]considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

   the most enthusiastic punishers of whoredom were often the most evangelical Protestants, who sought the ever-further purification of society (‘Puritans’, as they came to be called in England).

   2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin, published 2013, page 14

   Synonyms: harlotry