bawd
/bɔːd
/noun archaic
A woman in charge of a brothel.At the very worst, real mothers suffer by analogy with bawds and pimps....
- Kathryn Hunter plays the bawd of the title as a butch, shaven-headed operator who deals in drugs as well as sex.
- Temperature was peaking at barely nine in the morning, and townspeople were shuffling their way down the streets, carriages and carts were getting impatient, and competitive bawds were stepping back into the shadows.
Origin
Late Middle English: shortened from obsolete bawdstrot, from Old French baudestroyt 'procuress', from baude 'shameless'.