bosomy

English

WOTD – 7 August 2018

Etymology

bosom + -y.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbʊz(ə)mi/, /ˈbʊzmi/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbʊzəmi/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: bo‧somy

Adjective

bosomy (comparative bosomier or more bosomy, superlative bosomiest or most bosomy)

  1. Full of sheltered hollows or recesses.
    • 1815 May, Leigh Hunt, “To Hampstead”, in The Feast of the Poets, with Other Pieces in Verse, 2nd amended and enlarged edition, London: Printed for Gale and Fenner, [], OCLC 9634544, stanza 1, page 161:
      [] I beheld, in momentary sun, / One of thy hills gleam bright and bosomy, / Just like that orb of orbs, a human one, / Let forth by chance upon a lover's eye.
    • 1838, William Ball, Freemen and Slaves, an Historical Tragedy: In Five Acts, London: Saunders and Otley, [], OCLC 30554173, Act V, scene ii, page 119:
      For thee 'tis ill; / Although thou know'st it not. Thou ne'er shall see / The bosomy sail that brings thee safety here. / We are not idiots, comrades!
    • 1841, Spencer T. Hall, “Life of Robin Hood”, in The Forester’s Offering, London: Whitaker and Co. [] , OCLC 228690018, part I (Sketches in Prose), page 51:
      [E]merging from the bosomy woods about New Miller Dam, on the left, and tending towards the same point, ran that luxuriant and open tract of country including the lands of Woolley and Milthorpe, then all waving with a ripe and glorious harvest: []
  2. Having a large bosom.
    Synonyms: big-breasted, buxom, busty, chesty
    • 1908 June 20, “The Royal Horse Show”, in [Peter Anderson Graham], editor, Country Life, volume XXIII, number 598, London: [s.n.], OCLC 698475994, page 897:
      The essence of a tandem team is surely that it should be well balanced, sporting in appearance and that the horses themselves should at all events convey the impression of being able to do a long stage with ease and comfort. Now there can be nothing "sporting" about a beefy, bosomy, bad-shouldered tandem leader, who picks his fore feet up as high as he can, hangs them down again with a straight thrust on the ground, but a very little distance in advance of the spot from which he took them up.
    • 1915 May, Thomas Addison, “The Taming of Aunt Maria”, in Lippincott’s Magazine, volume XCV, number 569, [New York, N.Y.]: McBride, Nast & Co., OCLC 7879468, section III, page 117, column 2:
      Who invented your library? [] I've toned it up with a lot of those "stage favourites" magazines. You know the kind—"Mary Mush as Magdalene," and all that bosomy sort of stuff; warm, but not incendiary.
    • 2000 February, Helen Gurley Brown, “Looks/Age/Health”, in I’m Wild Again: Snippets from My Life and a Few Brazen Thoughts, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 129:
      I wasn't your typical breast-augmentation candidate, if there is such a thing. [] First I helped myself … went through all the do-it-yourself (bobby socks, cotton, little balloons filled with water—one broke one day and talk about slushy!) augmenting. Most of the time the augmenting did help … one looked bosomier, lusher.
    • 2017, Mathias Haeussler, “The Inward-looking Outsider?: The British Popular Press and European Integration, 1961–1992”, in Haakon A. Ikonomou, Aurélie Andry, and Rebekka Byberg, editors, European Enlargement across Rounds and beyond Borders (Routledge Advances in European Politics), Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part II (Beyond the Road to Membership), page 81:
      German girls also featured prominently in [the Daily Mirror editor Neil] Withcomb's coverage, as they were the "bosomiest" in Europe: "average bra size for fraulein is 36 to 38, against 34 to 36 for young British girls. Bra shapes are different, too!"
    • 2017 September 27, David Browne, “Hugh Hefner, ‘Playboy’ Founder, Dead at 91: Legendary Magazine Editor Helped Spark the Sexual Revolution”, in Rolling Stone, archived from the original on 15 March 2018:
      For the most part, [Hugh] Hefner's female companions all adhered to the same mold: twentysomething, bosomy and blonde. "Well, I guess I know what I like," he once said when asked about his preferences.

Translations

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