“Occupy”

From the Oxford English Dictionary:

8. a. trans. To have sexual intercourse or relations with. Obs.

The OED offers various examples, from 1475 to 1811, but here’s one from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, part 2:

[T]hese villains will make the word as odious as the word ‘occupy’ ….

(The word involved was “captain.” “Captain! thou abominable damned cheater, art thou not ashamed to be called captain? An captains were of my mind, they would truncheon you out, for taking their names upon you before you have earned them. You a captain! you slave, for what? for tearing a poor whore’s ruff in a bawdy-house? He a captain! hang him, rogue! he lives upon mouldy stewed prunes and dried cakes. A captain! God’s light, these villains will make the word as odious as the word ‘occupy;’ which was an excellent good word before it was ill sorted: therefore captains had need look to ‘t.”)

See also this page from Gordon Williams, A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart. Thanks to dictionary.com for the pointer.

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