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bodacious

 - 4 dictionary results

bo⋅da⋅cious

  [boh-dey-shuhs]
Use bodacious in a Sentence
–adjective South Midland and Southern U.S.
1. thorough; blatant; unmistakable: a bodacious gossip.
2. remarkable; outstanding: a bodacious story.
3. audacious; bold or brazen.
Origin:
1835–45; prob. to be identified with dial. (Devon, Cornwall) bo(w)ldacious brazen, impudent, b. bold and audacious

Related forms:
bo⋅da⋅cious⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bodacious
bo·da·cious also bow·da·cious   (bō-dā'shəs)   
adj.  

  1. Remarkable; prodigious.

  2. Audacious; gutsy.

adv.  

  1. Completely; extremely.

  2. Audaciously; boldly.


[Probably from dialectal boldacious, blend of bold and audacious.]
Popularized in the comic strip Snuffy Smith, bodacious is probably a blend of the words bold and audacious, whose combined senses are evident in the following description of Sevier County, Tennessee, as "the most bodacious display of tourism this side of Anaheim" (Los Angeles Times). A more traditional meaning is "remarkable, prodigious": "a bodacious amount of smoke" (Springfield MA Morning Union); "the most bodacious tale of hidden treasure" (Lawrence E. Will). Bodacious can also be an adverbial intensifier: "She's so bowdacious unreasonable when she's raised [irritated]" (William T. Thompson). African-American speech in New York City retains this Southernism as bardacious. Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary cites the form boldacious, which is the likely source for bodacious.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
bodacious [boˈdeʃəs]

  1. mod.
    assertive; audacious. : That is a bodacious plan, for sure.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

bodacious 
1837 (implied in bodaciously), Southern U.S. slang, perhaps from bodyaciously "bodily, totally," or a blend of bold and audacious, which suits the earliest attested sense of the word. Popularized anew by 1982 Hollywood film "An Officer and a Gentleman."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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