Definition of "ribaldry" [rib•ald•ry]

• Vulgar, lewdly humorous language or joking or an instance of it. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "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."
• "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:"
• "I man, in the end of his chara6lcrs, before the Canter - bury tales, thus excufes the ribaldry, which is very grofs in many of his novels."