The state, rank, or office of being a bawd; the profession or business of running a brothel.
Compound of bawd + -ship, where -ship is a suffix creating nouns denoting office, rank, or state (like kingship or friendship). This is a rare English formation reflecting medieval and Renaissance vocabulary for social positions.
English has a surprisingly rich vocabulary for titles that don't actually exist anymore—bawdship alongside kingship and friendship shows how people joked about making anything sound official! It's the kind of word a Renaissance writer would use to mock someone's pretensions.
Derived from 'bawd'; encodes the same gendered moral framework by treating brothel operation as a formalized 'office' or 'rank,' language that was applied primarily to women.
Use 'brothel operation' or 'procuring (profession)' for neutral reference.
["brothel operation","procuring"]
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