BOSOM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bosom mean? 

• BOSOM (noun)
  The noun BOSOM has 6 senses:

1. the chest considered as the place where secret thoughts are kept

2. a person's breast or chest

3. cloth that covers the chest or breasts

4. a close affectionate and protective acceptance

5. the locus of feelings and intuitions

6. either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman

  Familiarity information: BOSOM used as a noun is common.

• BOSOM (verb)
  The verb BOSOM has 2 senses:

1. hide in one's bosom

2. hold (someone) tightly in your arms, usually with fondness

  Familiarity information: BOSOM used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOSOM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The chest considered as the place where secret thoughts are kept

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

his bosom was bursting with the secret

Hypernyms ("bosom" is a kind of...):

concealment; privacy; privateness; secrecy (the condition of being concealed or hidden)

Domain usage:

archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

Derivation:

bosom (hide in one's bosom)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person's breast or chest

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("bosom" is a kind of...):

breast; chest (the front of the trunk from the neck to the abdomen)

Derivation:

bosom (hold (someone) tightly in your arms, usually with fondness)

bosom (hide in one's bosom)

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cloth that covers the chest or breasts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bosom" is a kind of...):

cloth covering (a covering made of cloth)

Holonyms ("bosom" is a part of...):

garment (an article of clothing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A close affectionate and protective acceptance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

bosom; embrace

Context example:

in the bosom of the family

Hypernyms ("bosom" is a kind of...):

acceptance; acceptation; adoption; espousal (the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The locus of feelings and intuitions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

bosom; heart

Context example:

her story would melt your bosom

Hypernyms ("bosom" is a kind of...):

hunch; intuition; suspicion (an impression that something might be the case)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

boob; bosom; breast; knocker; tit; titty

Hypernyms ("bosom" is a kind of...):

mamma; mammary gland (milk-secreting organ of female mammals)

Meronyms (parts of "bosom"):

lactiferous duct (ducts of the mammary gland that carry milk to the nipple)

areola; ring of color (small circular area such as that around the human nipple or an inflamed area around a pimple or insect bite)

Holonyms ("bosom" is a part of...):

adult female body; woman's body (the body of an adult woman)

Derivation:

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

• BOSOM (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hide in one's bosom

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

She bosomed his letters

Hypernyms (to "bosom" is one way to...):

conceal; hide (prevent from being seen or discovered)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

bosom (a person's breast or chest)

bosom (the chest considered as the place where secret thoughts are kept)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hold (someone) tightly in your arms, usually with fondness

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

bosom; embrace; hug; squeeze

Context example:

He hugged her close to him

Hypernyms (to "bosom" is one way to...):

clasp (hold firmly and tightly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bosom"):

clinch (embrace amorously)

cuddle (hold (a person or thing) close, as for affection, comfort, or warmth)

interlock; lock (become engaged or intermeshed with one another)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

bosom (a person's breast or chest)

 Context examples 

But, in general, Mr. Micawber has had no secrets from the bosom of affection—I allude to his wife—and has invariably, on our retirement to rest, recalled the events of the day.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The poor girl laid me on her bosom, and fell a weeping with shame and grief.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

By this means he ironed the yoke, wristbands, and neckband, setting the latter at right angles to the shirt, and put the glossy finish on the bosom.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And as she leaned down to drink, the lock of hair fell from her bosom, and floated away with the water.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I felt also sentiments of joy and affection revive in my bosom; my gloom disappeared, and in a short time I became as cheerful as before I was attacked by the fatal passion.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

She tore from the bosom of her dress a small packet.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Gradually her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of her bosom could one know that she was alive.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She drew a large silver locket from her bosom.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She could neither wonder nor condemn, but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing consolatory to her bosom, afforded no palliation of her distress.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)