varletry
English
Etymology
Compare Old French valeterie (“young unmarried nobles”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvɑː(ɹ)lɪtɹi/
Noun
varletry (uncountable)
- (obsolete) The rabble; the crowd; the mob.
- c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
- the shouting varletry of censuring Rome