indecent liberty

English

indecent liberty (plural indecent liberties)

Any behavior beyond the limits of propriety.
- c. 1700, Samuel Garth, preface to The Dispensary
  The intention of this preface is not to persuade mankind to enter into our quarrels, but to vindicate the author from being censured for taking any indecent liberty with a faculty he has the honour to to a member of.
- 1779, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Patrick Henry, March 27, 1779
  It would, therefore, hardly be deemed an indecent liberty in the most private citizen, to offer his thoughts to the consideration of the Executive.
- 1843, Edmund Burke, Ivison Stevenson Macadam, The Annual Register of World Events:
  Mr. Sheil taunted the Ministers with having, at a private meeting, threatened their supporters with resignation if the Bill were rejected : they had much better have appealed to the country. / Lord Stanley sharply denied that Ministers had taken the "indecent liberty" imputed to them by Mr. Sheil
Sexual behavior beyond social or legal limits.
- 2004, Mark R. Laaser, Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction, page 41:
  ... pinching, tickling, rubbing up against, and other forms of contact in places such as elevators and grocery stores may constitute an indecent liberty.