Libʹertines

A sect of heretics in Holland, led by Quinton a factor, and Copin. They maintained that nothing is sinful but to those who think it sinful, and that perfect innocence is to live without doubt.

⁂ By a “libertine” is now generally meant a profligate, or one who puts no restraint on his personal indulgence.

“A libertine, in earlier use, was a speculative free-thinker in matters of religion and in the theory of morals … but [it has come] to signify a profligate.”—Trench: On the Study of Words, lecture iii. p. 90.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.