buxom

B3U1X8O1M3
/ˈbʌksəm/

adjective

Having a full, voluptuous figure, especially possessing large breasts.

UncommonScrabble 16

Meanings

adjectivebuxom (comparative buxomer or more buxom, superlative buxomest or most buxom)

comparative buxomer · comparative more buxom · superlative buxomest · superlative most buxom · alternative bucksome

  1. Having a full, voluptuous figure, especially possessing large breasts.

    Aarfy's buxom trollop had vanished with her smutty cameo ring, and Nurse Duckett was ashamed of him because he had refused to fly more combat missions and would cause a scandal.

    1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 433
    1 more example

    DIED. Robert Brooks, 69, canny businessman who, as chairman of Hooters, turned the bar-restaurant chain, famed for buxom waitresses in orange hot pants, into an international success.

    2003 July 23, “Milestones”, in TIME, archived from the original on 23 Jun 2008

    Synonyms: bosomy, big-breasted, busty, chesty, plump, round, shapely, full-throated

  2. datedFull of health, vigour, and good temper.

    Claypole, the buxom novelist,...[his] bubbling utterances....

    1932, John Buchan, chapter IV, in The Gap in the Curtain
    3 more examples

    There on Beds of Violets blew, / And freſh-blown Roſes waſht in dew, / Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair, / So buckſom, blith, and debonair.

    a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 31

    So heated and impassioned, indeed, would they become, that the lady hardly felt herself safe in their company at such times, notwithstanding that she was a brave and buxom damsel, not easily put out, and with a daring spirit of humour in her composition.

    1896, Thomas Hardy, “Dame the Eighth: The Lady Penelope”, in A Group of Noble Dames

    He had not seen Zilla since Paul had shot her, and he still pictured her as buxom, high-colored, lively, and a little blowsy.

    1922, Sinclair Lewis, “26”, in Babbitt

    Synonyms: gay, vigorous

  3. obsoletePhysically flexible or unresisting.
    1 more example

    Their substance is of a middle Nature betwixt bones and gristles moderately hard, the better to beare the violence of outward iniures, flexible or buxome that they should not breake but giue way to violence, pellucide or transparant and therefore they are either red or liuid according to their flesh vnder them.

    1615, Helkiah Crooke, Mikrokosmographia

    Synonyms: pliant, pliable, flexible, malleable, plastic

  4. broadlyobsoleteMorally pliant; obedient and easily yielding to pressure.

    They downe him hold, and fast with cords do bynde, / Till they him force the buxome yoke to beare […].

    1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.8
    1 more example

    You will certainly be rewarded for this improvement in your conduct by a notable increase of tranquillity and cheerfulness in your view both of the past and of the future; and in the hope that you will be buxom and good, I conclude by New Year's lecture.

    1869, Newell Connop Thirlwall, Letters

    Synonyms: compliant, tractable

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveFull of health, vigour, and good temper.

adjectivePhysically flexible or unresisting.

adjectiveMorally pliant; obedient and easily yielding to pressure.

More synonyms by meaning

adjective(of a woman's body) having a large bosom and pleasing curves

adjective(of a female body) healthily plump and vigorous

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*beuhsam
  2. Old Englishbōcsum
  3. Middle Englishbuxom
  4. Englishbuxom

From Middle English buxom, also ibucsum, ibuhsum (“bendsome, flexible, pliant, obedient”), from Old English bōcsum, *būhsum, *ġebūhsum (“bendsome, pliant, obedient”), from Proto-West Germanic *beuhsam, *beugsam, equivalent to bow (“to bend, bow at the waist”) + -some or buck (“to bend, buckle, kick”) + -some. Cognate with Scots bowsome (“compliant”), West Frisian bûgsum (“flexible, bendy”), Dutch buigzaam (“flexible, pliant”), German biegsam (“flexible, pliant”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian пълногръ́д
  • пълногръ́д (pălnogrắd)having a full, voluptuous figure
Chinese Mandarin 凹凸有致
  • 凹凸有致 (āotūyǒuzhì)having a full, voluptuous figure
Czech baculatá, kyprá
  • baculatáhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • kypráhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • vnadnáhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • vyvinutáhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • krev a mlíko (o ženě)having a full, voluptuous figure
Danish barmfager, yppig
  • barmfagerhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • yppighaving a full, voluptuous figure
Dutch rondborstig
  • rondborstighaving a full, voluptuous figure
Esperanto abunda
  • abundahaving a full, voluptuous figure
Finnish povekas, rintava
  • povekashaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • rintavahaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • rehevähaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • isorintainenhaving a full, voluptuous figure
French bien en chair
  • bien en chairhaving a full, voluptuous figure
German drall, vollbusig
  • drallhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • vollbusighaving a full, voluptuous figure
Greek ελκυστικός, ζωηρός
  • ελκυστικός (elkystikós)having a full, voluptuous figure
  • ζωηρός (zoïrós)having a full, voluptuous figure
  • όμορφος (ómorfos)having a full, voluptuous figure
Hindi मोटी f or गुदगुदी f शरीर की
  • मोटी f or गुदगुदी f शरीर की (gudgudī)having a full, voluptuous figure
Hungarian telt
  • telthaving a full, voluptuous figure
Indonesian montok
  • montokhaving a full, voluptuous figure
Italian formosa, prosperosa
  • formosahaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • prosperosahaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • tettonahaving a full, voluptuous figure
Norwegian yppig
  • yppighaving a full, voluptuous figure
Portuguese tetuda, peituda
  • tetudahaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • peitudahaving a full, voluptuous figure
Romanian durduliu, țâțoasă
  • durduliuhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • țâțoasăhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • pieptoasăhaving a full, voluptuous figure
Russian полногру́дая
  • полногру́дая (polnogrúdaja)having a full, voluptuous figure
Scottish Gaelic lìonta, thiugh
  • lìontahaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • thiughhaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • mhaiseachhaving a full, voluptuous figure
Spanish pechugona, maciza
  • pechugonahaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • macizahaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • tetonahaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • turgentehaving a full, voluptuous figure
Swedish frodig, bystig
  • frodighaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • bystighaving a full, voluptuous figure
  • yppighaving a full, voluptuous figure
Turkish dolgun
  • dolgunhaving a full, voluptuous figure
Cite this entry
APA

buxom. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buxom

MLA

“buxom.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buxom. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “buxom,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buxom.

Source: buxom on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.