harlot

(hiir’lot),n.and a. [ low, varlet, knave, buffoon, vagabond, ¢ OF. *harlot, arlot, herlot, a vagabond, thief, = Pr. arlot, a vagabond, = It. arlotto, a glutton, sloyen (formerly applied also to a hedge-priest), fem. arlotta, harlot, in mod. E. sense; ML. arlotus, a glutton. Cf. W. herlod, a stripling, lad, Corn. harlot, a rogue (from the H.). The appar. orig. sense, ‘a fellow,’ gives some color to Skeat’s proposed derivation,