buxom [ME] Today buxom describes a woman’s physical appearance, but originally it would have described her character. From the early Middle Ages and into the 19th century buxom meant ‘obedient, compliant’ and applied to both sexes. The word comes from the root of *bow, ‘to incline the head or body’ and originally ‘to bend’. From ‘compliant’ it moved to ‘obliging, amiable’, and then in the 16th century it became more active and positive, taking in ‘bright, cheerful, lively’. Good spirits depend on good health, and soon a buxom woman was one full of health, vigour, and good temper. And since plumpness has a traditional association with health, she became plump or large-breasted by the late 19th century.