n. Joking or humorous language done in a vulgar or lewd fashion.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. The talk of a ribald; low, vulgar language; indecency; obscenity; lewdness; -- now chiefly applied to indecent language, but formerly, as by Chaucer, also to indecent acts or conduct.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. The qualities or acts of a ribald; licentious or foul language; ribald conversation; obscenity; indecency.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. ribald humor
n. behavior or language bordering on indelicacy
Word Usage
"Our countryman, in the end of his characters, before the Canterbury tales, thus excuses the ribaldry, which is very gross in many of his novels."