Meaning
A dated, disapproving label for a woman regarded as immoral or promiscuous; in full 'the scarlet woman of Babylon', the Whore of Babylon of Revelation 17. Historically it was also a Protestant polemical name for the Church of Rome. Now generally read as old-fashioned and sexist, and chiefly met in historical or biblical discussion. Derogatory and sexist when applied to a real woman; also historically anti-Catholic as religious polemic. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The phrase comes straight from the King James text of Revelation 17:4, where the great whore is 'arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls', bearing the name 'MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS'; scarlet there carries the double sense of luxurious crimson and conspicuous sin. Collins dates the English compound 'scarlet woman' to 1810-20. The biblical figure herself was read from early times as a cipher for pagan Rome (the seven hills), and Reformation polemicists including Luther, Calvin and Knox turned her against the papacy - Luther's 1545 Bible pictures her in the papal tiara - which is how 'scarlet woman' entered religious controversy. From there it generalised into a Victorian-era slur on any sexually independent woman. A curious afterlife: Aleister Crowley's Thelema reclaimed the 'Scarlet Woman' as the goddess Babalon.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- scarlet lady
- the scarlet woman of Babylon
- the woman arrayed in scarlet
Usage Examples
- The tabloids cast her as a scarlet woman, though the trial cleared her completely.
- Seventeenth-century pamphlets called Rome the scarlet woman of Babylon.
- His grandmother warned him about scarlet women, in exactly those Edwardian words.