Both Uses of
debauchery
in
All's Well That Ends Well, by Shakespeare
- She is young, wise, fair; In these to nature she's immediate heir; And these breed honour: that is honour's scorn Which challenges itself as honour's born, And is not like the sire: honours thrive When rather from our acts we them derive Than our fore-goers: the mere word's a slave, Debauch'd on every tomb; on every grave A lying trophy; and as oft is dumb Where dust and damn'd oblivion is the tomb Of honour'd bones indeed.†
Scene 2.3
- He's quoted for a most perfidious slave, With all the spots o' the world tax'd and debauch'd: Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth: Am I or that or this for what he'll utter, That will speak anything?†
Scene 5.3 *
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."