Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A benefit bestowed, especially one bestowed in response to a request.
  • noun A timely blessing or benefit.
  • adjective Convivial; jolly.
  • adjective Archaic Favorable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To do gratuitous service to another, as a tenant to a landlord.
  • noun A prayer; a petition.
  • noun That which is asked; a favor; a thing desired; a benefaction.
  • noun Hence A good; a benefit enjoyed; a blessing; a great privilege; a thing to be thankful for.
  • noun An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.
  • noun The refuse stalk of hemp or flax after the fiber has been removed by retting and breaking.
  • Good: as, boon cheer.
  • Favorable; fortunate; prosperous: as, a boon voyage.
  • Kind; bounteous; yielding abundance: as, “nature boon,”
  • Gay; merry; jolly; jovial; convivial: as, a boon companion; “jocund and boon,”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A prayer or petition.
  • noun That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present.
  • adjective obsolete Good; prosperous.
  • adjective Kind; bountiful; benign.
  • adjective Gay; merry; jovial; convivial.
  • noun The woody portion flax, which is separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A prayer; petition.
  • noun archaic That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a favour; benefaction; a grant; a present.
  • noun A good; a blessing or benefit; a great privilege; a thing to be thankful for.
  • noun An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.
  • adjective obsolete good; prosperous; as, "boon voyage"
  • adjective kind; bountiful; benign
  • adjective gay; merry; jovial; convivial
  • noun The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a desirable state
  • adjective very close and convivial

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bone, from Old Norse bōn, prayer; see bhā- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bon, good, from Old French, from Latin bonus; see deu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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”).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Gaelic and Irish via Scots.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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.

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Examples

  • Another boon is for the President of the United States to echo and reinforce Islamofascist propaganda themes, as Mr. Obama did in his first interview with an Arab language television network.

    Stromata Blog: 2009

  • Another boon is for the President of the United States to echo and reinforce Islamofascist propaganda themes, as Mr. Obama did in his first interview with an Arab language television network.

    Africa 2009

  • But if I'd had the power to beg one non-selfish boon from the Nebula gods of 2009, it would have been on behalf of Daniel Abraham's The Price of Spring.

    MIND MELD: More Nebula-Worthy Works of Fiction...Picked By Some of This Year's Nebula Nominees 2010

  • Another boon is for the President of the United States to echo and reinforce Islamofascist propaganda themes, as Mr. Obama did in his first interview with an Arab language television network.

    “Smart Power” Made Stupid 2009

  • America's abundance of natural gas is often described as a boon to national security and a "bridge" to a clean, low-carbon energy economy.

    The Road to a Clean Energy Future? Mark Brownstein 2011

  • Another boon is for the President of the United States to echo and reinforce Islamofascist propaganda themes, as Mr. Obama did in his first interview with an Arab language television network.

    Asia 2010

  • Another boon is for the President of the United States to echo and reinforce Islamofascist propaganda themes, as Mr. Obama did in his first interview with an Arab language television network.

    Russia 2009

  • Another boon is for the President of the United States to echo and reinforce Islamofascist propaganda themes, as Mr. Obama did in his first interview with an Arab language television network.

    Eastern Europe 2009

  • Another boon is for the President of the United States to echo and reinforce Islamofascist propaganda themes, as Mr. Obama did in his first interview with an Arab language television network.

    European Union 2009

  • But perhaps the greatest boon is the sheer quantity of readily accessible knowledge.

    research studies 2009

Comments

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  • Tempted to add to my Sportie: Cricket list.

    October 27, 2008

  • The stalk of flax or hemp after the fibre has been removed - OED2.

    December 28, 2008

  • "Then said Arthur, 'Since thou wilt not remain here, chieftain, thou shalt receive the boon, whatsoever thy tongue may name, as far as the wind dries, and the rain moistens, and the sun revolves, and the sea encircles, and the earth extends; save only my ship Prydwen, and my mantle, and Caleburn, my sword, and Rhongomyant, my lance, and Guenever, my wife.'"

    - Thomas Bulfinch, 'Age of Fable'.

    September 19, 2009

  • Boon, derived from Norse, by itself means a favour (pray grant me this boon: let my son live); the term boon companion means a good companion, boon in this case being derived from French bon

    December 1, 2010

  • To get out, to go abroad, to breathe in the fresh air, in any shape, is a boon—a great boon; especially to me, eligible as I am to all the delights of freedom and vigor!

    Horace Traubet, With Walt Whitman in Camden

    July 24, 2011

  • Question for Wordnik: Why does the below appear in the examples seven times? Surely there are plenty of others. In any case, one would think there is no point in any 'example' being shown more than once.

    "Another boon is for the President of the United States to echo and reinforce Islamofascist propaganda themes, as Mr. Obama did in his first interview with an Arab language television network."

    June 11, 2021

  • Thanks bilby! Unfortunately when we had to update the examples API a while back we weren't able to do as good a job filtering the repeat offenders in the db. We're working on it (and other examples updates) and hope to have something in place by the end of the year.

    June 11, 2021

  • Thank you Erin!

    I am a repeat offender of many things here.

    Well it was nice knowing you all.

    June 11, 2021