Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BO'SOM, n. [s as z. Sax. bosm, bosum; D. boezem; G. busen. Qu. Ch. ביזה or בוזא, the breast, uber, mamma.]

1. The breast of a human being and the parts adjacent.
2. The folds or covering of clothes about the breast. Put thy hand in thy bosom. – Ex. iv.
3. Embrace, as with the arm; inclosure; compass; often implying friendship or affection; as, to live in the bosom of a church.
4. The breast, as inclosing the heart; or the interior of the breast, considered as the seat of the passions. Anger resteth in the bosom of fools. – Eccles. vii. Their soul was poured into their mother's bosom. – Lam. ii.
5. The breast, or its interior, considered as a close place, the, receptacle of secrets. If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom. – Job xxxi.
6. Any inclosed place; the interior; as the bosom of the earth or of the deep.
7. The tender affections; kindness; favor; as, the son of his bosom; the wife of thy bosom. He shall carry the lambs in his bosom. – Isa. xl.
8. The arms, or embrace of the arms. – Ps. cxxix.
9. Inclination; desire. [Not used.] – Shak. Bosom, in composition, implies intimacy, affection and confidence; as a bosom-friend, an intimate or confidential friend; bosom-lover, bosom-interest, bosom-secret, &c. In such phrases, bosom may be considered as an attribute equivalent to intimate, confidential, dear.