Word of the Day: Buxom

From Dictionary.com:

bux⋅om[buhk-suhm] Show IPA Pronunciation

–adjective

1.	(of a woman) full-bosomed.

2.	(of a woman) healthy, plump, cheerful, and lively.

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

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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bux·om(bŭk'səm) Pronunciation Key
adj.

1. 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.
2. Archaic Lively, vivacious, and gay.
3. 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 © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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I am definitely buxom in figure, though more "ample of figure" than plump, which would suggest a pleasant roundness I do not have. Nonetheless, I am not a waif. I love being voluptuous, curvaceous....buxom. In the morning as I smooth cream over my skin, I love tracing the soft curve of my hips, my derriere extraordinaire, my shapely thighs, my stomach, my prodigious breasts. It's such a sensual and delightful daily ritual. My favorite artist overall is Titian due to his fantastic work on sensual female nudes. When I see those women, I see myself. Wonderful to be reflected in great works of art shown in museums around the world. Today, I love actresses like Kate Winslet and celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, not only for their considerable talents in their field, but because they are very proud of their fuller figures that clearly fall outside of the thin mode of today.

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On a different note, the third definition for buxom was used in marriage vows until the past, oh, fifty years to a century. The exact phrasing for the woman's vows (of course) included a promise to be "buxom and bonny", essentially quiet, obedient, and seeing her husband as king of the house. That is definitely not the kind of buxom for me!


Ninon Baccara, The Voluptuous Libertine