ribaudred
/ˈrɪbədrɪd/adjective
A disputed reading of Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra iii. x., equated by various editors and commentators with ribald adjective; hence in allusive use.
- N. E. D. (1909) describes the word as ‘a corrupt reading…which has not yet been satisfactorily emended’. Wells and Taylor, in their 1986 edition of the Compl. Wks., read the passage as riband red Nagge; but most earlier and later commentators interpret it as some variant of ribald. For a short editorial history see the Arden Shakespeare: Antony & Cleopatra (1995), p. 201, note 10..
Origin
Early 17th century; earliest use found in William Shakespeare (1564–1616), playwright and poet. Probably the result of an editorial misreading, but understood by many editors of Shakespeare to show a derivative of ribald or ribald.