Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Ribald

Rib′ald (rĭb′ald), n./ [OE. ribald, ribaud, F. ribaud, OF. ribald, ribault, LL. ribaldus, of German origin; cf. OHG hrīpa prostitute. For the ending -ald cf. E. Herald.] A low, vulgar, brutal, foul-mouthed wretch; a lewd fellow. Spenser. Pope.

Ribald was almost a class name in the feudal system . . . He was his patron's parasite, bulldog, and tool . . . It is not to be wondered at that the word rapidly became a synonym for everything ruffianly and brutal. Earle.

Rib′ald, a. Low; base; mean; filthy; obscene.

The busy day, Waked by the lark, hath roused the ribald crows. Shak.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.