Word of the Day for Thursday, January 12, 2012
bonny \BON-ee\, adjective:
1. Pleasing to the eye.
2. British Dialect.
A. (Of people) Healthy, sweet, and lively.
B. (Of places) Placid; tranquil.
C. Pleasing; agreeable; good.
adverb:
1. British Dialect. Pleasingly; agreeably; very well.
noun:
1. Scot. and North England Archaic.
A pretty girl or young woman.
Mayhap 'tis time to speak of more than how fine the weather is or how bonny she looks.
-- Hannah Howell, "Highland Honor"
As he was about to fix the last nail in the last of the shoes, the man in green said, "Would you be knowing what ails the bonny young lady?"
-- Ethel Johnston Phelps and Pamela Baldwin-Ford, "Tatterhood and Other Tales"
Bonny is of uncertain origin. It may be related to the Old French word bon meaning "good." It entered the Scots dialect in the mid-1400s.
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