onanism

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word onanism. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word onanism, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say onanism in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word onanism you have here. The definition of the word onanism will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofonanism, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

Onan +‎ -ism. In the Book of Genesis, Onan, son of Judah, in fulfillment of the laws of levirate marriage was to impregnate his brother Er's widow, Tamar, in order to raise offspring from the union in his brother's name. In order to avoid raising descendants for his late brother, however, Onan "spilled his semen on the ground when he went in to his brother's wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother" (Genesis 38:9).

Pronunciation

Noun

onanism (usually uncountable, plural onanisms)

  1. Masturbation.
    • 1839 February, John Bell, M.D., editor, The Eclectic Journal of Medicine, volume 3, number 4, Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell, page 147:
      Hypochondriasis, hysteria, chorea, epilepsy, apoplexy, and palsy, constitute part of the list of dire maladies induced or immediately excited, by onanism and immoderate or ill-timed coition. The memory and intellectual faculties, in general, are enfeebled, and there are instances of complete idiocy, brought on by early and continued onanism, and of insanity from similar excesses later in life.
    • a. 1969, John Kennedy Toole, “Eleven, Part IV”, in A Confederacy of Dunces, Penguin, published 1981, →ISBN, page 247:
      This photograph was far superior. A nude woman was sitting on the edge of a desk next to a globe of the world. The suggested onanism with the piece of chalk intrigued Ignatius.
  2. Ejaculating outside the vagina during intercourse; (the performing of) coitus interruptus.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French onanisme.

Noun

onanism n (uncountable)

  1. onanism, masturbation

Declension