Lecherous means showing crude and open sexual desire. A lecherous old man, lecherous glances, lecherous and leering.
The crudeness and the openness are both needed — a lecherous look is one that makes no attempt to hide itself, which is what makes the word contemptuous rather than merely descriptive. It is old-fashioned and mostly literary now. Note lechery, lecher; and that the French root meant gluttony as much as lust.
1adjectivelecherousShowing crude and open sexual desire.
“The lecherous old man stared at the young waitress all evening.”
lecherous is a quality of crude desire.
Old French lecherie meant gluttony or lewdness, from a Germanic verb meaning to lick. Lick and lecher come from the same root.
Proto-Indo-European
*leyǵʰ-
Old French
*lecherous
Middle English
lecherous
English, today
lecherous
Built from
From Middle English lecherous, licherous, from Old French lecherous (attested in Old French lecherousement (“lecherously”)), from Old French lecherie, licherie (“gluttony, sensuality, lewdness, lechery”), from Old French lecher, lechier, lekier, lescher (“to lick, live in gluttony or sensuality”), from Old Frankish likkōn (“to lick”), from Proto-Germanic likkōną (“to lick”), from Proto-Indo-European leyǵʰ- (“to lick”), equivalent to lecher + ous. More at lick.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA