Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A prostitute.
  • noun Often Offensive A person considered sexually promiscuous.
  • noun A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.
  • intransitive verb To associate or have sexual relations with prostitutes or a prostitute.
  • intransitive verb To accept payment in exchange for sexual relations.
  • intransitive verb To compromise one's principles for personal gain.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A woman who prostitutes her body for hire; a prostitute; a harlot; a courtezan; a strumpet; hence, in abuse, any unchaste woman; an adulteress or fornicatress.
  • To prostitute one's body for hire; in general, to practise lewdness.
  • To corrupt by lewd intercourse.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To have unlawful sexual intercourse; to practice lewdness.
  • intransitive verb (Script.) To worship false and impure gods.
  • transitive verb rare To corrupt by lewd intercourse; to make a whore of; to debauch.
  • noun A woman who practices unlawful sexual commerce with men, especially one who prostitutes her body for hire; a prostitute; a harlot.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A prostitute.
  • noun pejorative A person who is considered to be sexually promiscuous (see also: slut).
  • noun A person who is unscrupulous, especially one who compromises their principles for gain.
  • noun A person who will violate behavioral standards to achieve something desired.
  • noun A contemptible person.
  • verb intransitive To prostitute oneself.
  • verb intransitive To engage the services of a prostitute.
  • verb transitive To pimp; to pander.
  • verb intransitive To pursue false gods.
  • verb intransitive To pursue false goals.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb compromise oneself for money or other gains
  • verb work as a prostitute
  • verb have unlawful sex with a whore
  • noun a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English hore, from Old English hōre; see kā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English hōre, from Proto-Germanic *hōrōn, from Proto-Indo-European *kāro- (“dear”); cognate with Old Norse hóra ("whore"), hórr ("adulterer"), German Hure ("whore"), Middle High German huore, Old High German huora, Dutch hoer. Non-Germanic cognates include Latin cārus ("dear"), Albanian koj ("to feed, lure, bribe") and Sanskrit काम (kāma, "love").

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Examples

  • The term whore porne in this context is a term of slander for one guilty of sexual immorality or unfaithfulness.

    The Jesus Dynasty James D. Tabor 2006

  • The term whore porne in this context is a term of slander for one guilty of sexual immorality or unfaithfulness.

    The Jesus Dynasty James D. Tabor 2006

  • Gucci heels, silk Chanel plaid mules with interlocking "CC"s in rhinestones, and good god, the Hermès scarf collection--it was a label whore's paradise.

    La Coquette: 2005

  • Cause he never fucked that mannequin whore from the video store.

    ‘I AM LEGEND’ ALTERNATIVE ENDING 2008

  • But there was a reason the word whore in Lambaneish had its double meaning of whore-celebrant.

    Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009

  • But there was a reason the word whore in Lambaneish had its double meaning of whore-celebrant.

    Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009

  • But there was a reason the word whore in Lambaneish had its double meaning of whore-celebrant.

    Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009

  • She is karisma, as they say in Japanese, because she has impeccable style—well put together without being a label whore; she is self-deprecating while always appearing flawless and she is worldly.

    Kickboxing Geishas Veronica Chambers 2007

  • “Do not use the word whore in this house,” she said.

    The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre Dominic Smith 2006

  • “Do not use the word whore in this house,” she said.

    The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre Dominic Smith 2006

Comments

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  • Ah, bless your heart, for a sweet, pleasant—damn’d mischievous son of a whore.

    Goldsmith, She Stoops, I

    January 8, 2007

  • What's so bad about a whore? Someone's got to pay the bills.

    August 15, 2007