Word of the Day Archive
Friday August 25, 2006
robustious \roh-BUHS-chuhs\ , adjective:
1. Boisterous; vigorous.
2. Coarse; rough; crude.
. . .the robustious romantic figure comparable to John Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility--he comes in with dash, then proves a temptation to the heroine but is an eventual disappointment.
-- Stanley Kauffmann, "Emma", New Republic, August 19, 1996
When the meaning of the disturbance became clear to him he placed a hand beside his mouth and shouted: "Hey! Frank!" in such a robustious voice that the feeble clamor of the natives was drowned and silenced.
-- O. Henry, Cabbages and Kings
Here he has seemingly swilled some of Falstaff's sack and has had robustious, fiery fun.
-- Stanley Kauffmann, "Star-Crossed Lovers", New Republic, January 4, 1999
Robustious derives from Latin robustus, "oaken, hence strong, powerful, firm," from robur, "oak."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for robustious
