α. 1800s bonhomious, 1800s–1900s bonhommious (rare).
β. 1900s bonhommous (rare), 1900s– bonhomous.
bonhomousadj.
/ˈbɒnəməs/, U.S. /ˈbɑnəməs/ Characterized by bonhomie or cheerful friendliness; genial, affable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > social intercourse or companionship > [adjective] > affable > full of bonhomie
bonhomous1852
1852 W. M. Thackeray Let. 28 Nov. (1946) III. 134 Washington Irving was at dinner..a very nice bonhomious old gentleman in a brown wig.
1906 Badminton Mag. Feb. 171 The French are a bonhomous nation.
1928 E. Waugh Decline & Fall x. 109 Lady C.'s hardly what you might call bonhommous.
1960 Spectator 5 Feb. 185 An air of bonhomous candour.
2011 Independent 29 July 30/2 A ‘near riot’ at the Hollywood première of a film celebrating the supposedly bonhomous atmosphere at a well-known dance-music festival.
Derivatives
ˈbonhomously adv.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > a merrymaking or convivial occasion > merrymaking or conviviality > [adverb]
feastlya1325
jovially1704
anacreontically1822
conviviallya1832
bonhomously1943
1943 New Statesman 12 June 391/3 ‘Mrs. Spenser Gregson should have said that I am Mrs. Miniver,’ interrupted the little woman, beaming bonhomously at me.
1965 Economist 5 June 1126/1 The American Secretary of Defence departs..waving bonhomously.
2003 S. Brett Murder in Museum ii. 15 ‘We haven't met.’ ‘No, of course not.’ Lord Beniston gestured bonhomously. ‘Carole Seddon. This is Sheila Cartwright.’
ˈbonhomousness n.
ΚΠ
1917 R. J. Farrer On Eaves of World II. 301 Gentlemanly bonhomousness of outlook.
2014 R. Kimball in J. P. MacGuire Catholic William F. Buckley, Jr. ii. 74 Would a fire drill be any more effective in disrupting the mood..than that misguided exercise in demotic bonhomousness?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1852