† bostonn.1
Obsolete.
(see quot. 1534).
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society > faith > artefacts > cloths, carpets, cushions > cloth (general) > altar cloth > [noun] > red silk
boston1534
1534 in E. Peacock Eng. Church Furnit. (1866) 203 An altar cloth of red silke powtheryd with flowres called boston.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
Bostonn.2
1. A card game, allied to whist, named after the siege of Boston in the American War of Independence, to which the technical terms of the game refer. [ < French Boston: see Littré, and the Académie des Jeux.]
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > whist > [noun] > varieties of
whisk and swabbers1699
twelfth whist1752
Boston1800
short1825
long1832
dummy whist1843
preference1852
solo whistc1875
hearts1884
drive whist1885
cayenne whist1887
duplicate whist1891
duplicate1894
straight whist1901
1800 Sporting Mag. 16 185/2 (heading) Rules for the Game of Cards called Boston.
1800 Sporting Mag. 16 186/1 The eldest hand..if he thinks..that he can get five tricks or more, played as at Whist, says Boston.
1805 Académie Univ. des Jeux at Whist Tarif du jeu de Boston Whist.]
1820 in Hoyle
1850 H. G. Bohn et al. Hand-bk. Games 295 Boston..very much resembles Whist, and is somewhat like Quadrille.
1866 Daily Tel. 10 June 5/1 The French national game of Boston, which was invented in honour of a certain Transatlantic infusion.
1880 Libr. Universal Knowl. II. 791 Boston, a game at cards, played by 4 persons, with 2 packs [one dealt, the other cut for trumps].
2. A variation of the waltz. Also Boston dip (waltz) (see quot. 1885); Boston two-step, a variation of the two-step.
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society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > ballroom dancing > [noun] > waltz > types of waltz
slow waltz1804
Viennese waltz1842
trois-temps1859
deux-temps1860
old-fashioned waltz1863
Boston1879
hesitation1914
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > ballroom dancing > [noun] > others
quickstep1793
turkey-trot1839
racket1880
Military Schottische1882
veleta1900
military two-step1911
one-step1911
spot dance1911
Paul Jones1914
foxtrot1915
foxtrotting1916
Maxina1917
Boston two-step1918
slow foxtrot1918
twinkle1920
camel-walk1921
Charleston1923
slop1962
1879 Amer. Punch Oct. 116/1 The Hardshell Baptists will not dance even the Boston Dip Waltzes.
1885 A. Dodworth Dancing 73 Boston... When stepping with the right foot, the left knee is slightly bent, producing the dip, from which the name Boston Dip was derived.
1887 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 8 May 12/8 The young English baron..[was] dancing the Boston with Miss Bazaine.
1911 H. S. Harrison Queed ix. 108 Of her infinite poetry of motion it is only necessary to say that she could make even ‘the Boston’ look graceful.
1913 E. Scott All about the Boston 21 Mr. Henry Zay wrote: ‘I have danced the “Boston” for twenty years (I am an American) and say emphatically that there is no set figure that can be called the “Boston”. It is a series of steps or figures—such as the ordinary waltz-step, the “dip”, the “run”, the “reverse”,’ etc.
1913 E. Scott All about the Boston 24 At the present time the term ‘Boston’ is applied to the kind of movement that in its best and most graceful form would be far more consistently described as Rectilineal or Diagonal waltzing.
1918 A. Bennett Pretty Lady iii. 11 Do play for me. Play a boston—a two-step.
Compounds
also elliptical and attributive.
Boston baked beans n. chiefly U.S. a dish consisting of haricot beans baked with salt pork and molasses; occasionally in singular.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > prepared vegetables and dishes > [noun] > preparations of pulses
bean-butter1552
tofu1704
succotash1751
baked beans1798
chana1838
Boston baked beans1853
accra1864
vada1882
bean cake1887
soy cheese1890
chana dal1895
soybean curd1895
refried beans1897
soya1897
natto1899
bean paste1904
bean curd1909
soya bean curd1911
soy1945
hummus1955
tempeh1966
tarka dal1984
1853 Mrs. A. L. Webster Improved Housewife 147 Boston baked beans.
1904 Omaha Bee 16 Aug. 4 The maker of Boston baked bean pots is dead, but the fame of the Boston baked bean is perpetual.
c1938 Fortnum & Mason Price List 60/2 Boston baked beans..per tin 1/3.
1982 S. B. Flexner Listening to Amer. 62 The dish of beans cooked with saltpork and molasses wasn't widely called Boston baked beans until the 1850s.
Boston terrier n. (also Boston bull terrier) a small smooth-coated terrier originating in Massachusetts from a crossing of the bulldog and terrier.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > terrier > [noun] > bull-terrier
bull terrier1847
Boston terrier1894
Staffordshire bull terrier1901
Staffordshire1903
1894 Outing Mar. 465/1 After much discussion the name of Boston Terrier was finally selected because all other names indicating the origin of the dog were more or less in conflict with those of older breeds.
1907 F. T. Barton Terriers ix. 90 The so-called Boston terriers appear to be but indifferent specimens of the bull-terrier cropped.
1945 C. L. B. Hubbard Observer's Bk. Dogs 31 Boston Bull-Terrier... The breed was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1893.
1948 Chicago Tribune 4 Apr. (Grafic Mag.) 20/4 The Boston originated from a cross between the English bulldog and the white English terrier.
1955 W. W. Denlinger Compl. Boston i. iv. 112 The correct Boston neck fits neatly into and between long shoulders.
Boston crab n. a wrestling hold (see quot. 1961).
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > wrestling > [noun] > manoeuvres
swengOE
turn?c1225
castc1400
trip1412
fall?a1425
foil1553
collar1581
lock1598
faulx1602
fore-hip1602
forward1602
inturn1602
mare1602
hug1617
disembracement1663
buttock1688
throw1698
back-lock1713
cross-buttock1713
flying horse1713
in holds1713
buttocker1823
chip1823
dogfall1823
cross-buttocker1827
hitch1834
bear hug1837
backfall1838
stop1840
armlock1841
side hug1842
click1846
catch-hold1849
back-breaker1867
back-click1867
snap1868
hank1870
nelson1873
headlock1876
chokehold1886
stranglehold1886
hip lock1888
heave1889
strangle1890
pinfall1894
strangler's grip1895
underhold1895
hammer-lock1897
scissor hold1897
body slam1899
scissors hold1899
armbar1901
body scissors1903
scissors grip1904
waist-hold1904
neck hold1905
scissors1909
hipe1914
oshi1940
oshi-dashi1940
oshi-taoshi1940
pindown1948
lift1958
whip1958
Boston crab1961
grapevine1968
powerbomb1990
1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Boston crab, a professional wrestling hold in which the aggressor sits on the buttocks of a prone opponent and pulls upward on the opponent's legs.
1962 Spectator 13 Apr. 480 The Boston Crab looks pretty agonising.
1985 Time 15 Apr. 105/1 It can be no small feat of strength and precision to execute an atomic knee drop, a figure-4 leg lock, or the dreaded Boston crab.
Derivatives
colloquial.
ˈBoston v. (intransitive) to dance the Boston.
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society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > ballroom dancing > dance ballroom dance [verb (intransitive)] > waltz
waltzc1794
valse1870
Boston1913
1913 A. M. N. Lyons Simple Simon iii. vi. 328 He was saying to her ‘Do you Boston?’
1920 S. Lewis Main St. i. 2 Scores recited more accurately and dozens Bostoned more smoothly.
Draft additions April 2010
Boston rocker n. originally and chiefly U.S. a rocking chair of a type thought to have originated in Boston, typically having a high back with spindles, a decorative top panel, and a downward curve at the front of the seat and arms; cf. rocker n.1 4.
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1836 Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pa.) 22 Feb. Aint it just as comfortable to go out on the piazza, sit in the Boston Rocker for an hour.
1922 Munsey's Mag. June 91/1 Seating herself in the Boston rocker in a corner, Dory took up the typewritten part Mr. Eliot had given her to understudy.
1997 V. N. Kneubuhl Conversion of Ka'ahumanu in H. Gilbert Postcolonial Plays (2001) 367/1 (stage direct.) Downstage right, a simple set with a table, benches and a few chairs, including a Boston rocker, suggest the parlour of the Mission House.
Draft additions December 2012
Boston fern n. the sword fern Nephrolepis exaltata, native to tropical areas of the Americas and Africa; spec. the cultivated variety bostoniensis, which has drooping fronds and is grown as a house plant; (occasionally also) any of several other ferns of this genus.The genus Nephrolepis has been placed in the family Lomariopsidaceae as well as in several other families.
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1896 Boston Flower Market & New Eng. Florist 23 July 62/2 The drooping variety of Nephrolepis exaltata is known in other parts of the world as the ‘Boston fern’.
1924 Amer. Fern Jrnl. 11 100 Here were fifty plants of Boston fern varieties shown by F. R. Pierson, of Tarrytown, N.Y.
2000 G. Nelson Ferns of Florida 63 Five taxa of the genus Nephrolepis occur in Florida, at least three of which are generally referred to by the common name Boston fern.
Draft additions June 2017
Boston marriage n. U.S. used euphemistically to refer to the cohabitation of two women, esp. in a romantic relationship or intimate friendship; now chiefly historical. [Perhaps originating in allusion to Henry James's novel The Bostonians (1886), in which such a cohabitation is portrayed.]
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1893 Open Court 5 Jan. 3517/2 I do not propose that we should formally adopt the Boston Marriage into our civil code.
1965 H. Howe Gentle Amer. v. 83 Such an alliance I was brought up to hear called a 'Boston marriage'.
1983 J. Epstein Plausible Prejudices (1985) 307 As a young woman she entered into an important friendship with Sarah Orne Jewett, who herself had a ‘Boston marriage’ with Annie Fields.
2003 J. Flanders Victorian House (2004) x. 326 What Boston marriages implied sexually probably varied from couple to couple.
Draft additions September 2018
Boston butt n. (also with lower-case initial) U.S. a large cut of meat taken from the upper shoulder of a pig.
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1915 Hotel Monthly Oct. 79/2 The Boston butts are drawn under the blade bone with the blade left in.
1955 F. G. Ashbrook Butchering xiii. 180 Boston butts can be boneless or left with the blade bone in.
1983 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 June e1 For the DNC party he used 550 pounds of meat, half briskets and half boston butts.
2007 S. Lobel et al. Lobel's Prime Time Grilling 269 Boston butt is the favorite cut among pit masters everywhere for authentic pulled pork barbecue.
Draft additions March 2019
Boston lettuce n. a cultivar of butterhead lettuce, with a relatively large-head and soft, smooth, light-green leaves.The names butter, Boston, and bibb lettuce are often used interchangeably.
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1860 Crayon June 174/1 Bill of fare... Boston Lettuce, with mayonnaise sauce.
1945 P. Work Veg. Production & Marketing xxvi. 508 Boston lettuce is too delicate to stand shed packing.
2015 N.Y. Times Mag. 1 Nov. 71/2 Tennis Ball Lettuce. The father of Boston lettuce, this variety was grown at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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