(verb) to make faulty or defective; impair / (verb) to debase in moral or aesthetic status / (verb) to make ineffective
(adj) having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters
compelled to trade prurient acts for medical assistance
compelled to trade prurient acts for medical assistance
(noun) a complete or impressive collection of things; (historically) a complete set of arms or suit of armor
[...] Like the thirtysomethings of that film, the residents of Tarbox are too old by the time the country splits apart to join the psychedelic bandwagon, too settled to develop anything like a political imagination. Instead, they use sex as a kind of spiritual salve, a way of keeping their fear of death at bay. “The book is, of course, not about sex as such,” Updike said in one interview. “It’s about sex as the emergent religion, as the only thing left.”
of Updike's Couples
[...] Like the thirtysomethings of that film, the residents of Tarbox are too old by the time the country splits apart to join the psychedelic bandwagon, too settled to develop anything like a political imagination. Instead, they use sex as a kind of spiritual salve, a way of keeping their fear of death at bay. “The book is, of course, not about sex as such,” Updike said in one interview. “It’s about sex as the emergent religion, as the only thing left.”
of Updike's Couples