Meanings
comparative more boistous · superlative most boistous · alternative boystous
- EarlyModernobsoleteCoarse, rude; noisy, violent; strong.
And whan he was comen to the gate of the palais he mette firste with a boistous churle that rigorousli axed hĩ what he sought there?
1560, The Knight of the Swanne, folio 33ᵛ3 more examples
Pawes he had grete and longe / Fyre of out of his mouthe spronge / His tayle was grete and no thynge small / And his body boystous withall / His blaste myght no man tell
1510, Here begynneth a lytel treatyse of ye byrth & prophecye of Marlyn, folio 28ᵛThe tune wherof semes yet full straunge, so boystous is the blast: / but quiet calmes settes forth still windes, when stormes be gon and past.
1552, Thomas Churchyard, A playn and fynall confutacion: Of cammells corlyke oblatracion, page [1]And therewithall shee thought / The same to bee a shape ryght meete uppon them to bee brought: / And so shee from theyr myghty limbes theyr native figure tooke, / And turnd them into boystous Bulles with grim and cruell looke.
1567, Ovid, “The Tenth Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 126, verso
Origin
- Old Frenchboitous“noisy”
- Anglo-Normanbustous“rough”
- Middle Englishboistous
- Englishboistous
From Middle English boistous, from Anglo-Norman bustous (“rough”), perhaps from Old French boitous (“noisy”) (the source of French boiteux).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
boistous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boistous
“boistous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boistous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “boistous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boistous.
Source: boistous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.