Adapted From: WordNet 2.0 Copyright 2003 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
BODACIOUS | ||||
A | adjective Origin of the word: The word is a combination of the terms "bold" and "audacious". Frequently used in the U.S. South it was popularized by the movie "Lil Abner" and the TV show "the Beverly Hillbillies". In the New York area, however, it takes the form "bardacious". The British English dialect "boldacious" is possibly the source of the American forms, but it's use in English literature dates to the late 1800s. The recorded first use of the word in literature occurred in the southern United States and dates to the the 1830s as an adverb (bodaciously, meaning thoroughly, or completely) and as an adjective in 1843. A quotation from a writer in Georgia penned in 1845 contains the statement "She's so bowdacious unreasonable when she's riled." It's use to imply 'impudent; insolent; daring', is a more recent use found in the twentieth century (from the 1910s to the 1960s). Li'l Abner, the main character in the long-running (1934-1977) syndicated newspaper strip by cartoonist Al Capp, frequently used the term "bodacious", and the subsequent movie "Lil Abner" (1959) depicting the life of hillbillies in the mythical southern town of "Dogpatch" further popularized the term. In the 1960s, Paul Henning based his "Beverly Hillbillies" television series (1962-1971) on this film and stage musical, and the term "bodacious" was frequeltly used and further popularized by the characters Jethro Bodine (Max Baer, Jr), Jeb Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), Ellie Mae (Donna Douglas) and Granny (Irene Ryan). In the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982), one of the male characters uses the term "bodacious" stating, "That's one bodacious pair of ta-tas on that blonde," and subsequently the term is now used colloquially to mean "beautiful or impressive," as in "bodacious babes." When "Team Bodacious" was formed in 1969, the term bodacious was defined as "huge, strong, bold, and audacious". | |||
1 | bodacious Definition: audacious, barefaced, bold-faced, brassy, brazen, brazen-faced, insolent, enormous, huge, formidable; impressive; thorough; completely; extremely | |||
unrestrained by convention or propriety; "an audacious trick to pull"; "a barefaced hypocrite"; "the most bodacious display of tourism this side of Anaheim"- Los Angeles Times; "bold-faced lies"; "brazen arrogance" | ||||
2 | bodacious | |||
incorrigible; "a bodacious gossip" | ||||