See also: põrn and porn-

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Clipping of pornography. Attested from mid-20th century.

Pronunciation

Noun

porn (usually uncountable, plural porns)

  1. (uncountable, informal) Pornography. [from mid-20th c.]
    Synonyms: erotica, filth, smut
    I just delete the porn before someone else uses the computer.
    • 1992, Bruce Sterling, The Hacker Crackdown[1], →ISBN:
      Underground boards also carried handy programs for "scanning" telephone codes and raiding credit card companies, as well as the usual obnoxious galaxy of pirated software, cracked passwords, blue-box schematics, intrusion manuals, anarchy files, porn files, and so forth.
    • 2004, Cory Doctorow, Eastern Standard Tribe[2], →OCLC:
      There're all kinds of ways to interact with our friends over the network: we can play hallucinogenic games, chat, send pictures, code, music, funny articles, metric fuckloads of porn… The interaction is high-quality!
  2. (countable, informal, chiefly in the plural) A pornographic work.
    Synonyms: adult movie, blue movie, X-rated movie, skin flick
    • 1982, Florence King, “When Sisterhood Was in Flower”, reprinted in The Florence King Reader, Macmillan (1996), →ISBN, page 181:
      There are anywhere from ten to twelve chapters in the average porn, so that many blank pages can be inserted.
    • 2000, Dennis Cooper, Period, Grove Press, published 2001, →ISBN, page 33:
      — I’ve got it at home. Anyway, there was this gap between the final two porns.
    • a. 2004, anonymous study participant, quoted in Todd G. Morrison, “‘He was Treating Me Like Trash, and I Was Loving It . . .’: Perspectives on Gay Male Pornography”, in Todd G. Morrison (editor), Eclectic Views on Gay Male Pornography: Pornucopia (co-published as Journal of Homosexuality, Volume 47, Numbers 3/4), Psychology Press (2004), →ISBN, page 179:
      I remember once watching a porn with some friends of mine []
  3. (uncountable, informal) Material, usually visual, presenting something desirable in a sensational manner.
    car porn
    gun porn
    food porn
    • 2011, Michael K. Thomas, “The utility and efficacy of qualitative research software in grounded theory research”, in Vivian B. Martin, Astrid Gynnild, editors, Grounded Theory: The Philosophy, Method, and Work of Barney Glaser, →ISBN, page 140:
      Because software is particularly good at counting, it can be used to create wonderfully compelling visualizations of quantitative data. These can be so compelling that they have even been called “info porn” (see the periodic table of visualizations).
  4. (uncountable, informal, often humorous) Material that provides illicit gratification of an obsessive or unhealthy interest in something.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

French

Noun

porn f (uncountable)

  1. porn

Scots

Noun

porn (uncountable)

  1. porn
    • 2012, Iain Connell, Robert Florence, Burnistoun, Episode #3.4 (DVD subtitles)
      See, in the hospital before he died, ma da told me he kept his porn stash up there.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  NODES
Chat 1
Done 2
eth 3
games 1
see 5