Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web

buxom

 - 3 dictionary results

bux⋅om

[buhk-suhm]
–adjective
1. (of a woman) full-bosomed.
2. (of a woman) healthy, plump, cheerful, and lively.

Origin:
1125–75; ME, earlier buhsum pliant, equiv. to OE būh (var. s. of būgan to bow 1 ) + -sum -some 1


bux⋅om⋅ly, adverb
bux⋅om⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To buxom
bux·om   (bŭk'səm)   
adj.  
    1. Healthily plump and ample of figure: "A generation ago, fat babies were considered healthy and buxom actresses were popular, but society has since come to worship thinness" (Robert A. Hamilton).

    2. Full-bosomed.

  1. Archaic Lively, vivacious, and gay.

  2. Obsolete Obedient; yielding; pliant.


[Middle English, obedient, from Old English *būhsum, from būgan, to bend, submit; see bheug- in Indo-European roots.]
bux'om·ly adv., bux'om·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

buxom 
c.1175, buhsum "humble, obedient," from buh- stem of O.E. bugen "to bow" + -som, for a total meaning "capable of being bent." Meaning progressed from "compliant, obliging," through "lively, jolly," "healthily plump, vigorous," to (in women, and perhaps infl. by lusty) "plump, comely" (1589).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see buxom on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us: