boon

See also bon

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /buːn/

  Rhymes: -uːn

Etymology 1

From Middle English boon (“prayer”), from Old Norse bόn (“prayer, petition”), from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“supplication”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰāni-, *bʰā- (“to say”). Influenced by boon (“good, favorable”, a). Cognate with Swedish bön (“prayer, petition, request”), Danish bøn (“prayer”), Old English bēn (“prayer, request, favor, compulsory service”). More at ben.

Noun

boon (plural boons)

1. (obsolete) A prayer; petition.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?):

     For which to God he made so many an idle boon […]

2. (archaic) That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a favour; benefaction; a grant; a present.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of James I. 17 to this entry?):

     Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above […]

   • 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram:^[1]

     I gave you life. Can you not return the boon by giving me death, my lord?

3. A good; a blessing or benefit; a great privilege; a thing to be thankful for.

   Finding the dry cave was a boon to the weary travellers.

   Anaesthetics are a great boon to modern surgery.

4. (UK dialectal) An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

Synonyms

• blessing
• benefit

Antonyms

• bane

Translations

A blessing or benefit

• Bulgarian: благодат (bg) (blagodát) f
• Dutch: zegen (nl), voordeel (nl)
• French: aubaine (fr) f
• German: Segen (de) m

• Portuguese: benção (pt) f
• Russian: благо (ru) (blágo) n, благодать (ru) (blagodátʹ) f, добро (ru) (dobró) n
• Spanish: bendición (es) f, ventaja (es) f

a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present

• Bulgarian: дар (bg) (dar) m, благодеяние (bg) (blagodejánie) n
• Dutch: gift (nl), geschenk (nl)

• Russian: дар (ru) (dar) m, благодеяние (ru) (blagodejánije) n

a prayer or petition

• Bulgarian: молба (bg) (molbá) f
• Dutch: gebed (nl), verzoek (nl)

• Russian: мольба (ru) (molʹbá) f
• Spanish: oración (es) f

Etymology 2

From Middle English boon, bone, from Old Northern French boon, Old French bon (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”), from Old Latin duonus, dvenos, from Proto-Indo-European *dū- (“to respect”).

Adjective

boon (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) good; prosperous; as, "boon voyage"
2. kind; bountiful; benign
3. gay; merry; jovial; convivial

   a boon companion

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Episode 16

     --No, Mr Bloom repeated again, I wouldn't personally repose much trust in that boon companion of yours who contributes the humorous element, if I were in your shoes.

Translations

kind; bountiful; benign

• Bulgarian: , добър (bg) (dobǎr), благотворен (bg) (blagotvoren)
• Dutch: lief (nl),goedaardig (nl),

• Russian: добрый (ru) (dobryj), доброжелательный (ru) (dobroželatelʹnyj)

gay; merry; jovial; convivial

• Bulgarian: весел (bg) (vesel), приятен (bg) (prijaten)
• Dutch: vrolijk (nl),minzaam (nl),

• Russian: весёлый (ru) (vesjólyj)

Quotations

• Which ... Nature boon Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain — John Milton
• A boon companion, loving his bottle — John Arbuthnot

Etymology 3

From Gaelic and Irish via Scots.

Noun

boon (uncountable)

1. The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

Anagrams

• noob
• obon

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Dutch

Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology

From Old Dutch *bōna, from Proto-Germanic *baunō.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -oːn

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

boon f, m (plural bonen, diminutive boontje)

1. bean