bosom

== English == === Alternative forms === bosome (obsolete) === Etymology === From Middle English bosom, bosum, from Old English bōsm, from Proto-West Germanic *bōsm, from Proto-Germanic *bōsmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewH- (“to swell, bend, curve”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bossem, Bousem (“bosom”), West Frisian boezem (“bosom”), Dutch boezem (“bosom”), German Busen (“bosom”). Related also to Albanian buzë (“lip”), Greek βυζί (vyzí, “breast”), Romanian buză (“lip”), Irish bus (“lip”), and Latin bucca (“cheek”). === Pronunciation === (UK, US, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈbʊz(ə)m/, /ˈbʌz(ə)m/ Rhymes: -ʊzəm, -ʌzəm === Noun === bosom (plural bosoms) (anatomy, somewhat dated) The breast or chest of a human (or sometimes of another animal). [from 11thc.] The seat of one's inner thoughts, feelings, etc.; one's secret feelings; desire. [from 13thc.] The protected interior or inner part of something; the area enclosed as by an embrace. [from 15thc.] The part of a dress etc. covering the chest; a neckline. A breast, one of a woman's breasts Any thing or place resembling the breast; a supporting surface; an inner recess; the interior. A depression round the eye of a millstone. ==== Synonyms ==== (a woman's breasts): see Thesaurus:breasts ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Adjective === bosom (not comparable) In a very close relationship. bosom buddies ==== Translations ==== === Verb === bosom (third-person singular simple present bosoms, present participle bosoming, simple past and past participle bosomed) To enclose or carry in the bosom; to keep with care; to take to heart; to cherish. To conceal; to hide from view; to embosom. (intransitive) To belly; to billow, swell or bulge. 1905, Alex Macdonald, In Search of El Dorado, London: T. Fisher Unwin, Part II, “The Five-Mile Rush,” p. 92,[8] What Stewart called a “langtailie coat” spread out behind him like streamers in a breeze, a “biled” collar had, in the same gentleman’s terse language, “burst its moorings” and projected in two miniature wings at the back of his ears, and a shirt that had once been white, bosomed out expansively through an open vest. (transitive) To belly; to cause to billow, swell or bulge. 1822, James Hogg, The Three Perils of Man, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Volume 3, Chapter 12, pp. 440-441,[9] I looked again, and though I was sensible it must be a delusion brought on by the stroke of his powerful rod, yet I did see the appearance of a glorious fleet of ships coming bounding along the surface of the firmament of air, while every mainsail was bosomed out like the side of a Highland mountain. 1855, The Scald [pseudonym of George Smellie], “Sketches of a Voyage to Hudson’s Bay” in The Sea: Sketches of a Voyage to Hudson’s Bay, and Other Poems, London: Hope & Co., p. 45,[10] Thus one by one they mount, and spreading wide, The transverse wings extend on either side, And, lightly bosomed by the gentle gale, She seems a moving pyramid of ail. === References === “bosom”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. === Anagrams === mobos, booms, Booms, moobs == Middle English == === Alternative forms === bosum, bosem === Etymology === From Old English bōsm, from Proto-West Germanic *bōsm, from Proto-Germanic *bōsmaz. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈbuzum/, /ˈboːzum/, /-zəm/ === Noun === bosom (plural bosmes) The enclosure formed by the breast and arms, embrace ==== Descendants ==== English: bosom Middle Scots: bosum, bosome Scots: bosom ==== References ==== “bọ̄̆sǒm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.