Bosom Meaning
/ˈbʊz(ə)m/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe breast or chest of a human (or sometimes of another animal).
nounThe seat of one's inner thoughts, feelings, etc.; one's secret feelings; desire.
Sentence Examples
He was happy in the bosom of his family.
I will keep it in my bosom.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She kept the secret letter hidden in the ____ of her dress.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He felt a sense of peace in the ____ of his very loving and kind family.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.[…]She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat."
— 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"Mary felt annoyed at the girl; just because bras had become passé, did a girl with so pronounced a bosom have to cater to fashion? In this case practicality dictated a bra, and Mary stood at the desk feeling herself flushing with disapproval."
— 1964, Philip K. Dick, “FOUR”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 27:
"my poor dear duke[…], in consequence of the excitement created in his august bosom by her frantic violence and grief, had a fit in which I very nigh lost him."
— 1844 January–December, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, →OCLC:
"His uncle, a Cardinal, engages a Spanish youth of Moorish descent called Diego, an expert singer and player on the virginal,[…]to cleanse his bosom of the perilous stuff, and cure him by the spell of his music."
— 1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 16, in Friday's Business:
"… Mr Toodle … was refreshing himself with tea in the bosom of his family."
— 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She kept the secret letter hidden in the ____ of her dress.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He felt a sense of peace in the ____ of his very loving and kind family.