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Whore

//hɔː// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Synonym of prostitute: a person (especially a woman) who offers sexual services for payment. derogatory, vulgar

    "The merciless Macdonald – worthy to be a rebel, for that the multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him – from the Western Isles of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied, and fortune on his damned quarrel smiling showed like a rebel's whore."

  2. 2
    a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money wordnet
  3. 3
    A person who is sexually promiscuous; a slut. derogatory, vulgar

    "He cals her on a ſudden, all to naught; ſhe is a ſtrumpet, a light huswife, a bitch, an arrant whore."

  4. 4
    A person who is unscrupulous, especially one who compromises their principles for gain. derogatory, vulgar

    "You're smart. They're all whores."

  5. 5
    A person who will violate behavioral standards to achieve something desired. derogatory, vulgar

    "Vidal is at once more detached and more preoccupied with his own view, celebrating an aristocracy of sensibility constantly thwarted and ignored by those mere whores after fame, the statesmen and politicians."

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  1. 6
    A contemptible person. derogatory, vulgar

    ""Begone," Clare shouted. She could not bring herself to kill in cold blood. "Begone, or I'll shoot." "Idiot whore," he shouted back. "You would not dare.""

Verb
  1. 1
    To prostitute oneself. derogatory, intransitive, vulgar
  2. 2
    compromise oneself for money or other gains wordnet
  3. 3
    To engage the services of a prostitute. derogatory, intransitive, vulgar
  4. 4
    have unlawful sex with a whore wordnet
  5. 5
    To pimp; to pander. derogatory, transitive, vulgar
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    work as a prostitute wordnet
  2. 7
    To promote shamelessly. derogatory, transitive, vulgar

    "Did you see him on that chat show, whoring his new book?"

  3. 8
    To pursue false gods. derogatory, intransitive, vulgar
  4. 9
    To pursue false goals. derogatory, intransitive, vulgar

    "As for those whose hearts go a whoring after the world, and who set their affections on the things of the earth, they cannot love his appearing"

  5. 10
    To overuse something. derogatory, slang, transitive, vulgar

    "BTW, that guy whuz still an asshole - camping the BFG and whoring the quad - I usually leave BFG maps but stuck around on that one and suicided quite a bit (3 times I got to about -10 frags, then came back to 0...)."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English hore, from Old English hōre, from Proto-Germanic *hōrǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros (“loved”), from *keh₂- (“to wish; desire”). Cognate with Dutch hoer, German Hure, Old Norse hóra as well as Sanskrit चारु (cā́ru, “dear”), Latin cārus (“dear, expensive”), and Irish cara (“friend”). The unetymological spelling with wh- superficially denotes a formerly standard pronunciation with an excrescent /w/ (such as in whole), but such a form is hardly found in either commentators on Early Modern English pronunciations or records of traditional dialects (which both explicitly mention its rarity or absence), therefore leaving the spelling somewhat inexplicable. However, this may be because such a excrescent /w/ was absorbed by a following /uː/ (as in words with etymological /w/ such as whom, two) after it became established in the spelling but before our earliest orthoepic records.

Etymology 2

From Middle English hore, from Old English hōre, from Proto-Germanic *hōrǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros (“loved”), from *keh₂- (“to wish; desire”). Cognate with Dutch hoer, German Hure, Old Norse hóra as well as Sanskrit चारु (cā́ru, “dear”), Latin cārus (“dear, expensive”), and Irish cara (“friend”). The unetymological spelling with wh- superficially denotes a formerly standard pronunciation with an excrescent /w/ (such as in whole), but such a form is hardly found in either commentators on Early Modern English pronunciations or records of traditional dialects (which both explicitly mention its rarity or absence), therefore leaving the spelling somewhat inexplicable. However, this may be because such a excrescent /w/ was absorbed by a following /uː/ (as in words with etymological /w/ such as whom, two) after it became established in the spelling but before our earliest orthoepic records.

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