Both Uses of
debauchery
in
1984, by Orwell
- Mere debauchery did not matter very much, so long as it was furtive and joyless and only involved the women of a submerged and despised class.
p. 65.3 *debauchery = behavior involving excessive drinking and/or casual sex
- All the blood and lymph had been drained out of him by an enormous debauch of work, leaving only a frail structure of nerves, bones, and skin.†
p. 179.5debauch = to corrupt or seduce from virtue, duty, or allegiance OR excessive drinking, casual sex, and/or drug abuse while partying
Definitions:
-
(1)
(debauchery) extreme indulgence in pleasures -- especially those considered immoral or harmful, such as drinking, partying, or other reckless behavior
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
In the form, debauch or archaically in the form debauchery the word more commonly means "to corrupt or seduce from virtue, duty, or allegiance" as when Edmund Burke wrote "Learning not debauched by ambition," and "The republic of Paris will endeavor to complete the debauchery of the army."