peeping Tom

peep·ing Tom (ppng)

n.

A person who gets pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, from secretly watching others; a voyeur.

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[After the legendary Peeping Tom of Coventry, England, who was the only person to see the naked Lady Godiva.]

Word History: In an age when we can speak of peeping Tom cameras or electronic peeping Toms we have indeed come far from the time of the legendary peeping Tom. Godgifu (fl. 1040-1080), Lady Godiva to us, pledged her legendary ride as a means of persuading her husband, Leofric, Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes. In the original version of the story she was observed by all the townspeople as she disrobed, but in a much later version of the story a tailor or butcher named Tom was the only person to observe her as she rode by, everyone else having shuttered their windows as they had been asked. Peeping Tom, first recorded around 1796, has become a term for a voyeur, not at all a pleasant fate for this legendary fellow. As W.H. Auden has said, "Peeping Toms/are never praised, like novelists or bird watchers,/for their keenness of observation."

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Peeping Tom

n

a man who furtively observes women undressing; voyeur

[after the tailor who, according to legend, peeped at Lady Godiva when she rode naked through Coventry]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Peeping Tom - a viewer who enjoys seeing the sex acts or sex organs of others peeper, voyeur looker, spectator, viewer, watcher, witness - a close observer; someone who looks at something (such as an exhibition of some kind); "the spectators applauded the performance"; "television viewers"; "sky watchers discovered a new star"

Translations

Peeping Tom [ˌpiːpɪŋˈtɒm] N → mirón m

Peeping Tom

n → Spanner m (inf), → Voyeur m

Peeping Tom [ˌpiːpɪŋˈtɒm] n → guardone m