Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A benefit bestowed, especially one bestowed in response to a request.
- n. A timely blessing or benefit: A brisk breeze is a boon to sailors.
- adj. Convivial; jolly: a boon companion to all.
- adj. Archaic Favorable.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A prayer; a petition.
- n. That which is asked; a favor; a thing desired; a benefaction.
- n. Hence A good; a benefit enjoyed; a blessing; a great privilege; a thing to be thankful for.
- n. An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.
- To do gratuitous service to another, as a tenant to a landlord.
- n. 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,”
Wiktionary
- n. A blessing or benefit.
- n. that which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present
- n. a prayer or petition
- adj. good; prosperous; as, "boon voyage"
- adj. kind; bountiful; benign
- adj. gay; merry; jovial; convivial
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A prayer or petition.
- n. That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present.
- adj. Good; prosperous.
- adj. Kind; bountiful; benign.
- adj. Gay; merry; jovial; convivial.
- n. The woody portion flax, which is separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a desirable state
- adj. very close and convivial
Etymologies
- Middle English bone, from Old Norse bōn, prayer; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.Middle English bon, good, from Old French, from Latin bonus; see deu-2 in Indo-European roots.
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.”
“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
“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.”
“But perhaps the greatest boon is the sheer quantity of readily accessible knowledge.”
“If savings are exempted, there is a heavy incentive to save (to lower tax burden and/or get the bleedin 'boon).”
Libertarian Redistribution, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“But the short-term boon soon turned into a long-term disaster.”
“While an empty storefront might not help in the short run, securing better tenants is a long-term boon for the neighborhood, he says.”
The Wall Street Journal: Empty Storefronts Blot Union Square Area
“Yes, 187 did pass and it proved to be a short-term boon for the GOP, helping Republicans in capturing the State Assembly, coming very close to capturing the State Senate, and propelling Republican Governor Pete Wilson back into the Governor's mansion.”
The Huffington Post: Muhammad Ali Hasan: Why the Republican Party Is Going Extinct
“Much as a film like Stewart Wade's can be derided for its lack of craft, visual ambition, and recycled narrative of sexual identity crisis, it also can't be denied that as a genre the marginalized gay indie, with its limited release pattern and eventual DVD and cable boon, is one of the strongest standing bastions of true independent American cinema.”
“Every boon is of His grace and there is neither Majesty nor is there Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘boon’.
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Archaic
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 327 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Yazhinni Spelling bee
tongue, stallion, scruple, salinity, schedule, rouge, populist, Permian, perspire, pasteurize, multitude, mournful and 227 more...
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Fun to Say
Non-English is okay, but please don't add misspellings.
writhe, quibble, smock, festival, carnival, unicycle, panorama, mammogram, explicit, prehensile, pseudonym, antonym and 18 more...
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Hey Hey It's My Monkey!
I don't have a monkey. But if I did, he/she would be named ...
hanuman, shock, 500, rhesus, wrench, spank, puzzle, davy jones, funky, grip, swinger, chunky and 27 more...
kingparton 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 Jul 24, 2011
michaelt42 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 Dec 1, 2010
bilby "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'. Sep 19, 2009
yarb The stalk of flax or hemp after the fibre has been removed - OED2. Dec 28, 2008
bilby Tempted to add to my Sportie: Cricket list. Oct 27, 2008