▪ I. buxom, a.
(ˈbʌksəm)
Forms: ibuhsum, ibucsum, 2–3 buhsum(m, 3 bocsum, -om, 3–8 buxum, 4 boȝsam, boghsom, bousum, -om, (?) busum, boxsom(e, bouxsome, bowxom, buxsom, 4–5 bowsom, boxsum, buxsum, 4–6 bouxom(e, boxom(e, -um, 4–7 bughsom, bowsum, buxome, 5 bouxum, buxhum, 5–6 buxume, buxsome, -home, (?) buscom, 6 bowsome, buxam, buckesom(e, 6–8 bucksome, 7–8 bucksom, (9 bucksome), 4– buxom.
[early ME. buhsum, ibucsum (perh.:—OE. *b{uacu}hsum, *ᵹeb{uacu}hsum), f. stem of b{uacu}ᵹan (ᵹeb{uacu}ᵹan) bow v.1 + -some; cf. MDu. boochsaem, Du. buigzaam, Ger. biegsam flexible, pliant. Branch II seems to have arisen from sense 1 c; the development of sense 3 being precisely the same as in blithe, that of 4 as in Fr. joli from ‘blithe’ to ‘comely’.]
I. Easily bowed or bent.
1. Morally. † a. Obedient; pliant; compliant, tractable (to). Obs. (exc. as a rare archaism.)
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 57 Beo buhsum toward gode. Ibid. 75 Beon him ibucsum ouer alle þing. c 1200 Ormin 6176 Þin laferrd birrþ þe buhsumm beon. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 980 An angel..bad hire..to hire leuedi buxum ben. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 8148 Alle men..Þat meke of hert er here, and bowsom. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 49 Oure Ladi Marye..was..buxumer to his bidding þan ony hond-mayde. c 1440 Generydes 2505, Thanne came ther in.. The buscommest folk. c 1450 Lonelich Grail lii. 1006, I schal..maken hem buxom to ȝowre hond. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) iv. i. 160/1 We ben..to them buxom and meke. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. (1539) 15, I shall be buxome and obedient to justyces. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 287 b, The Consuls should..sweare faythfully to become bonnaire and buxome to the Pope. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 626 So wilde a beast..buxome to his bands, is ioy to see. c 1684 MS. Let. Corporation of Kirkby to Judge Jeffreys, Your Lordship was pleased to give us..your oath to become a buxome and beneficial member of this corporation. [1843 Borrow Bible in Spain xliii, To be buxom and obedient to the customs and laws of the republic. 1867 Thirlwall Lett. Friend (1881) 88 In the hope that you will be buxom and good, I conclude now my New Year's Lecture.] |
† b. Submissive, humble, meek. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 8356 Þat lauedi til hir lauerd lute Wit buxum reuerence and dute. Ibid. 29009 Oure praier aw euer for to be bowsum. 1340 Ayenb. 59 Hi..ziggeþ..þet hi byeþ zuo kueade and zuo zenful..vor þet me ham hereþ and hyealde uor wel boȝsam. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 57 Buxum, or lowly or make, humilis, pius, mansuetus. c 1440 York Myst. xxiv. 141 His sisteres praye with bowsom beede. a 1455 Holland Houlate xxxiv. 12 Bowsum obeysance. |
† c. Gracious, indulgent, favourable; obliging, amiable, courteous, affable, kindly. Obs.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vi. 56 Bouweþ forþ bi a brok beo-boxum-of-speche. 1393 Ibid. C. iv. 421 God hym-self hoteþ To be boxome at my bidding. c 1460 Towneley Myst. Annunc. 79 (Angel to Joseph) Meek and buxom looke thou be, And with her dwelle. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 18 To mak the reders more bowsum and attent. Ibid. 108 Ilk story be thi self is separat, To mak thaim bowsome to thine audience. |
† d. with inf.: Easily moved, prone, ready. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 25208 Þan suld we be..bowsom his bidinges to fullfill. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 50 The creatours þat er dom..er bughsom To lof hym. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 197 Many a beggere for benes buxome was to swynke. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 22 Þe flesh is euer lewid, and buxom to do Evil. |
† 2. Physically: Flexible, pliant. Yielding to pressure, unresisting (poet.). Obs.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. xi. 37 Then gan he..scourge the buxome aire so sore That to his force to yielden it was faine. 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 278/2 The Pockes..are verye buxume. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 1111 Their substance is..flexible or buxome that they should not breake but giue way to violence. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 842 Wing silently the buxom Air. a 1700 Dryden Palamon & Arc. ii. 519 Her turtles fann'd the buxom air above. |
II. Blithe, jolly, well-favoured.
3. Blithe, gladsome, bright, lively, gay. arch.
(The explanation in Bailey and Johnson, ‘amorous, wanton’, is apparently only contextual.)
| 1590 Greene Never too late A iv, Grey and buxome were his eyne. 1598 Florio, Vago..blithe..buckesome, full of glee. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vi. 28 A Souldier firme and sound of heart, and of buxome valour. 1620 Shelton Quix. IV. xxx. 229 He went on his Journey..most glad and bucksome. 1658 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. Pref., Philosophy, such as this Book teacheth, is altogether pleasant, free, bucksome, and if I may so say, wanton too. 1675 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 267 A fine Miss..as free, Buxom, and amorous as He. 1678 Marvell Def. J. Howe Wks. 1875 IV. 196, I could not but remark here of The Discourse..how jovial It is and bucksom. 1827 Heber Europe 312 Freedom's buxom blast. 1848 Lytton Harold i. i, That buxom month. |
4. Full of health, vigour, and good temper; well-favoured, plump and comely, ‘jolly’, comfortable-looking (in person). (Chiefly of women.)
| 1589 Greene Menaph. (Arb.) 43 A bonny prety one, As bright, buxsome and as sheene As was shee. 1608 Middleton Fam. Love iii. vii, Those ribs shall not enfold thy buxom limbs. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Matineux, An earlie man is buxome. 1681 Hickeringill Vind. Naked Truth ii. 22 Those lazy and bucksome Abby-Lubbers. 1683 tr. Erasmus' Moriæ Enc. 16 My followers are smooth, plump, and bucksom. 1742 Gray Ode Eton Coll., Theirs buxom health of rosy hue. 1779 Johnson Gray Wks. 1787 IV. 303 His epithet buxom health is not elegant; he seems not to understand the word. 1823 Scott Peveril xxi, She was a buxom dame about thirty. 1828 ― F.M. Perth iii, A buxom priest. 1843 Carlyle Past. & Pr. iii. viii. (1872) 153 Fresh buxom countenances. 1873 S. Sea Bubbles i. 4 A slight gathering in of her dress..to exhibit her buxom figure to full perfection. |
5. Comb., as buxom-looking.
| 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1858) 77 He..followed a buxom-looking handmaiden into the breakfast parlour. |
▪ II. † ˈbuxom, v. Obs. rare—1.
[f. prec. adj.]
With to: To yield to, obey.
| c 1305 Edmund Conf. 467 in E.E.P. (1862) 83 Þe bischop..him bet atte laste Þat he scholde not bileue godes wille to do To buxom to holi churche. [Query, read To be buxom.] |