The whore of Babylon
Preserved but no longer current.
An epithet bestowed on the Roman Catholic Church by the early Puritans and some of their descendants. The allusion is to Rev. xvn-xix. (Cp. SCARLET WOMAN.) In the book of the Revelation Babylon stands for Rome, the capital of the world, the embodiment of luxury, vice, splen- dour, tyranny, and all that the early Church knew was against the spirit of Christ.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The whore of Babylon” mean?
An epithet bestowed on the Roman Catholic Church by the early Puritans and some of their descendants. The allusion is to Rev. xvn-xix. (Cp. SCARLET WOMAN.) In the book of the Revelation Babylon stands for Rome, the capital of the world, the embodiment of luxury, vice, splen- dour, tyranny, and all that the early Church knew was against the spirit of Christ.
Is “The whore of Babylon” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.