▪ I. bonny, a.
(ˈbɒnɪ; see below)
Forms: 6 bony(e, 8 -ie, 6– bonny, bonnie.
[Of uncertain origin: presumably to be referred in some way to OF. bon, bone ‘good’, or its ME. naturalized form bon, bone, boone (see boon a.); but no satisfactory account of the formation can be offered. In Sc. the pronunciation is often bōnie (ˈbonɪ, ˈboːnɪ), in Border Counties even (ˈbunɪ).
A notable coincidence in form and sense is presented by the Sp. bonito ‘pretty, bonny’, dim. of bueno ‘good’; but there is no corresponding form in OF. to which ME. bonie might be referred. And analogy does not much favour the possibility of a derivative form from ME. bon, bone, good.]
1. Pleasing to the sight, comely, beautiful, expressing homely beauty. Now in common use only in Scotland and north or midland counties of England; occasionally employed, with local or lyrical effect, by English writers, but not a word of ordinary English prose.
| 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 53 The ymage of our lady..beirand in her arme the bony ymage of hir sone..representis to us the blissit Incarnatioun..of our salviour. 1570 Levins Manip. 102 Bonye, scitus, facetus. 1589 Greene Menaph. (Arb.) 43, I saw a little one, A bonny prety one. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. ii. 12 The bonnie beast he loued so well. 1602 ― Ham. iv. v. 187 For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. 64 Merry lads are playing Each with his bonny lass. 1790 Burns Tam O'Shanter, Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses For honest men and bonny lasses. c 1820 Scott Bonny Dundee, For it's up with the bonnets of bonny Dundee. 1856 Longfellow Bird & Ship iii, I greet thee, bonny boat. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 23 Here Dinah turned to Bessy Cranage, whose bonny youth and evident vanity had touched her with pity. |
b. Sometimes as a term of fondness or coaxing, as in ‘my bonnie bairn’.
| a 1540 Peblis to Play 13 My bonny heart, how says the sang? |
† 2. a. In earlier Eng. it appears to have often had the sense: Of fine size, big (as a good quality). Obs.
| a 1600 Hooker Serm. vii. III. 878 Issachar though bonny & strong enough unto any labours, doth couch. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iii. 8 The bonnie priser of the humorous Duke. |
b. In mod. dialect, and to a certain extent colloquially, it has the sense of ‘looking well (in health)’, often connoting healthy plumpness: ‘It seems to be generally used in conversation for plump’ (J.).
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xi. ix, The bonny housemaid begins to repair the disordered drum-room. 1877 Holderness Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., Hoo's thy wife? Oh, she's bonny. 1877 E. Peacock Lincolnsh. Gloss., Bonny, well in health. |
† 3. Pleasant-looking, smiling, gladsome, ‘bright’.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 69 Then sigh not so, but let them goe And be you blithe and bonnie. 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady iii. ii, Be blithe and bonny, steward. 1681 Jordan London's Joy in Heath Grocer's Comp. (1869) 547 From torments or troubles of Body or Mind, Your Bonny Brisk Planters are free as the wind. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 242 It will make you bonny and blith. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe v, Report speaks you a bonny monk. |
4. Sc. and Eng. dial. A general epithet of eulogy or appreciation, answering nearly to ‘fine’ in its vaguest sense: like ‘fine’ also often ironical. Sometimes also = ‘considerable in extent or amount’. to pay a bonny penny for: to give a long or heavy price for. a bonny row: a ‘jolly’ uproar. bonny and: = ‘fine and’, ‘nice and’, considerably.
| a 1548 Thrie Priests Peblis 9 (Jam.), Quhilk..of many smals couth mak This bonie pedder ane gude fute pak. 1752 Walpole Lett. H. Mann (1834) III. 6 Mr. Chute cannot bear it; says it..looks bonny & Irish. 1823 Lockhart Reg. Dalton vii. v. (1842) 425 Glenstroan..is a gay bonnie bit addendum. 1827 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. xi. Wks. (1855) 283 You're a bonny fellow to ask that question. 1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorksh. Dial., It will mak a bonny country-side talk. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss s.v., A bonny building, and a bonny size—handsome and spacious. 1881 Evans Leicestersh. Wds. Bonny, good, jolly, pretty, etc., an almost universally applicable epithet of eulogy. |
† B. absol. or quasi-n. A bonny one. Obs.
| a 1529 Skelton Elynour Rum. 227 Wyth ‘Bas, my pretty bonny’. |
C. quasi-adv. Finely, beautifully.
| c 1826 A. Cunningham ‘The sun rises bright’, My hamely hearth burn't bonnie. |
▪ II. † bonny, n. Obs. Mining.
Also bonney.
[? Cf. bunny, a swelling.]
(See quots.)
| 1671 Phil. Trans. No. 69. 2098 Squatts are certain distinct places in the earth, not running in veins, differing from Bonnys..in this only that Squatts are flat, Bonnys are roundish. 1721 Bailey Bonny, (with miners) is a distinct bed of Oar, that communicates with no Vein. [Hence in later Dicts.] |
▪ III. † bonny, bony
variants of bonagh. Obs.
| 1600 Sir E. Carew in Carew MSS. (1869) 387 Strengthened with 1000 bonies. a 1604 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 28 Their bonnys were..active and venturous souldiers. |
▪ IV. bonny
var. bony, and of bunny, Obs., a swelling.