822: buxom Mar 9, 2017

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The history of words—especially those that have changed greatly over time—can often be quite telling of culture. 'Buxom' today refers to a chesty woman but it didn't always. Falsely, this word is often associated with 'buck' referring to a wily man, often found in the phrase "buck naked". The term is actually formed on the base of the Old English 'būgan' meaning ‘to bend’, which also gave English the word, 'bow'. The original meaning of this word, which was essentially "bend-some" or "bow-some" was ‘compliant, obliging’. Later on the sense became that of ‘lively and good-tempered’ which led to the modern association good health but especially plump features, indicating what was seen as compliant or good-natured.

For more on 'bow', see this link

For more on 'buck', see this link

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