luscious

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From earlier lushious, lussyouse (luscious, richly sweet, delicious), a corruption of lustious, from lusty (pleasant, delicious) +‎ -ous. Shakespeare uses both lush (short for lushious) and lusty in the same sense: "How lush and lusty the grass looks" (The Tempest ii. I.52).

An alternative etymology connects luscious to a Middle English term: lucius, an alteration of licious, believed to be a shortening of delicious.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈlʌʃəs/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌʃəs

Adjective[edit]

luscious (comparative more luscious, superlative most luscious)

  1. Sweet and pleasant; delicious.
  2. Sexually appealing; seductive.
    • 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of Fanny Hill: A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text:
      With one hand he gently disclosed the lips of that luscious mouth of nature.
  3. Obscene.
    • 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of Fanny Hill: A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text:
      Hitherto I had been indebted only to the girls of the house for the corruption of my innocence: their luscious talk, in which modesty was far from respected.

Translations[edit]