luscious

• lushious (obsolete)

From earlier lushious, lussyouse (“luscious, richly sweet, delicious”), a corruption of *lustious, from lusty (“pleasant, delicious”) +‎ -ous. Shakespeare uses both lush (short for lushious) and lusty in the same sense: "How lush and lusty the grass looks" (The Tempest ii. I.52).

An alternative etymology connects luscious to a Middle English term: lucius, an alteration of licious, believed to be a shortening of delicious.

• Rhymes: -ʌʃəs

luscious (comparative more luscious, superlative most luscious)

1. sweet and pleasant; delicious
   • 1863, H.S. Thompson, Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden

     Her lips were like two luscious beefsteaks.

   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz

     There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits.

2. sexually appealing; seductive
   • 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of Fanny Hill: A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text

     With one hand he gently disclosed the lips of that luscious mouth of nature.

3. obscene
   • 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of Fanny Hill: A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text

     Hitherto I had been indebted only to the girls of the house for the corruption of my innocence: their luscious talk, in which modesty was far from respected.