Isn't a noun, not a verb, required to make sense? "Molestation" would be the right word, I think. Or does New Age Grammar disagree?
Furthermore, how is it that "molest" has begun to only be used as a nonspecific term for sexual impropriety? That wasn't the first definition in my old dictionary!
Furthermore, how is it that "molest" has begun to only be used as a nonspecific term for sexual impropriety? That wasn't the first definition in my old dictionary!
I checked OED about how the definition of molest has changed over the years. It was first cited by Chaucer in 1425 to mean "To cause trouble, grief, or vexation to; to disturb, annoy, inconvenience." It wasn't until 1889, in the Jrn.l Anthropol. Inst., that it came to mean "to harrass, attack, or abuse sexually.
From the on-line NY Times: "The Philippine military is verifying a claim by Abu Sayyaf militants that they have kidnapped a German man from a yacht and shot and killed his female companion, whose suspected body was found in the abandoned boat ..."
I see your point about "abandoned," though in looking it up, it means having been deserted, and I suppose if the occupants are killed, it's deserted.
The word "desert" is interesting. "Desert" a baren land, is pronounced differently from "desert" (to abandon), while the latter is pronounced like "dessert.
