buxom

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: bux=om

CIDE DICTIONARY

buxom, a. [OE. buxum, boxom, buhsum, pliable, obedient, AS. bōcsum, būhsum (akin to D. buigzaam blexible, G. biegsam); būgan to bow, bend + -sum, E. -some. See Bow to bend, and -some.].

•  Yielding; pliable or compliant; ready to obey; obedient; tractable; docile; meek; humble.  [1913 Webster]

  "So wild a beast, so tame ytaught to be,
  And buxom to his bands, is joy to see."  [1913 Webster]

  "I submit myself unto this holy church of Christ, to be ever buxom and obedient to the ordinance of it."  [1913 Webster]
•  Having the characteristics of health, vigor, and comeliness, combined with a gay, lively manner; stout and rosy; jolly; frolicsome.  [1913 Webster]

  "A daughter fair,
  So buxom, blithe, and debonair."  [1913 Webster]

  "A parcel of buxom bonny dames, that were laughing, singing, dancing, and as merry as the day was long."  [1913 Webster]
•  having a pronounced womanly shape.  [WordNet 1.5]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

buxom, adj. (esp. of a woman) plump and healthy-looking; large and shapely; busty.

Derivative

buxomly adv. buxomness n.

Etymology

earlier sense pliant: ME f. stem of OE bugan BOW(2) + -SOME(1)

THESAURUS

buxom

Junoesque, adipose, agreeable, amply endowed, attractive, becoming, beefy, big-bellied, bloated, blowzy, bonny, bosomy, braw, brawny, built, built for comfort, burly, busty, callipygian, callipygous, chesty, chubby, chunky, comely, corpulent, curvaceous, curvy, distended, dumpy, fair, fat, fattish, fleshy, frivolous, full, gleeful, goddess-like, gross, healthy, hearty, heavyset, hefty, hilarious, hippy, imposing, jocular, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, laughter-loving, likely, lovely to behold, lusty, meaty, merry, mirth-loving, mirthful, obese, overweight, paunchy, personable, pleasing, plump, pneumatic, podgy, portly, potbellied, presentable, pudgy, puffy, pursy, rejoicing, risible, roly-poly, rotund, shapely, sightly, slender, square, squat, squatty, stacked, stalwart, statuesque, stocky, stout, strapping, swollen, thick-bodied, thickset, top-heavy, tubby, vigorous, well-built, well-developed, well-favored, well-fed, well-formed, well-made, well-proportioned, well-shaped, well-stacked

ROGET THESAURUS

buxom

Cheerfulness

N cheerfulness, geniality, gayety, l'allegro, cheer, good humor, spirits, high spirits, animal spirits, flow of spirits, glee, high glee, light heart, sunshine of the mind, sunshine of the breast, gaiete de coeur, bon naturel, liveliness, life, alacrity, vivacity, animation, allegresse, jocundity, joviality, jollity, levity, jocularity, mirth, merriment, hilarity, exhilaration, laughter, merrymaking, heyday, rejoicing, marriage bell, nepenthe, Euphrosyne, sweet forgetfulness, optimism, self complacency, hedonics, hedonism, cheerful, happy, cheery, cheerly, of good cheer, smiling, blithe, in spirits, in good spirits, breezy, bully, chipper, in high spirits, in high feather, happy as the day is long, happy as a king, gay as a lark, allegro, debonair, light, lightsome, light hearted, buoyant, debonnaire, bright, free and easy, airy, janty, jaunty, canty, hedonic, riant, sprightly, sprightful, spry, spirited, spiritful, lively, animated, vivacious, brisk as a bee, sparkling, sportive, full of play, full of spirit, all alive, sunny, palmy, hopeful, merry as a cricket, merry as a grig, merry as a marriage bell, joyful, joyous, jocund, jovial, jolly as a thrush, jolly as a sandboy, blithesome, gleeful, gleesome, hilarious, rattling, winsome, bonny, hearty, buxom, playful, playsome, folatre, playful as a kitten, tricksy, frisky, frolicsome, gamesome, jocose, jocular, waggish, mirth loving, laughter-loving, mirthful, rollicking, elate, elated, exulting, jubilant, flushed, rejoicing, cock-a-hoop, cheering, inspiriting, exhilarating, cardiac, cardiacal, pleasing, palmy, cheerfully, Int, never say die!, come!, cheer up!, hurrah!, hence loathed melancholy!, begone dull care!, away with melancholy!, a merry heart goes all the day, as merry as the day is long, ride si sapis.