Possibly this is its primary significance in Hamlet's mind, for shortly afterwards he satirically says of Polonius to the players: "He's for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps."
"The Three Heron's Feathers"
Hermann Sudermann
But then wrought I my craft of bawdry; I bade Crito go up, and make himself room To hide him in my chamber among the broom.
"A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume I."
R. Dodsley
Indeed, it is a Puritan lie, though it seems to possess the vivaciousness of its class, that the romances are distinguished by "bold bawdry."
"The English Novel"
George Saintsbury