Thursday, February 27, 2014

toothsome

toothsome \TOOTH-suhm\, adjective:

1. pleasing to the taste; palatable: a toothsome dish.
2. pleasing or desirable, as fame or power.
3. voluptuous; sexually alluring: a toothsome blonde.

It was filled with friandises, with luscious and toothsome bits--the finest of fruits, pates, a rare bottle or two, delicious syrups, and bonbons in abundance.
-- Kate Chopin, The Awakening, 1899
Strictly judged, most modern poems are but larger or smaller lumps of sugar, or slices of toothsome sweet cake—even the banqueters dwelling on those glucose flavors as a main part of the dish.
-- Walt Whitman, "An Old Man's Rejoinder," 1890

Toothsome entered English in the 1560, joining the word tooth, denoting "sense, liking," with the adjective-forming suffix –some.

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