Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A foot and leg covering reaching halfway to the knee, resembling a laced half boot.
- n. A thick-soled laced half boot worn by actors of Greek and Roman tragedies.
- n. Tragedy, especially that which resembles a Greek tragedy.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A half-boot or high shoe strapped or laced to the ankle and the lower part of the leg.
- n. A similar boot worn by the ancients; the cothurnus, particularly as worn by actors in tragedy. See cothurnus.
- n. Hence Tragedy or the tragic drama, as opposed to comedy.
- n. A low laced shoe worn by women.
- n. pl. Eccl., stockings forming a part of the canonicals of a bishop, usually made of satin or embroidered silk.
Wiktionary
- n. now historical A half-boot.
- n. A type of boot worn by the ancient Athenian tragic actors; tragic drama, tragedy.
- n. An instrument of torture for the foot; bootikin.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A strong, protecting covering for the foot, coming some distance up the leg.
- n. A similar covering for the foot and leg, made with very thick soles, to give an appearance of elevation to the stature; -- worn by tragic actors in ancient Greece and Rome. Used as a symbol of tragedy, or the tragic drama, as distinguished from comedy.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a boot reaching halfway up to the knee
Etymologies
- Apparently from Old French bousequin, variant of brousequin ( > modern brodequin), probably from Middle Dutch broseken, of unknown origin. (Wiktionary)
- Perhaps alteration (influenced by buckskin) of obsolete French broisequin, small leather boot. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I remembered Horace's 'Praecipe lugubres cantus, Melpomene,' and Cowley's 'I called the buskin'd muse Melpomene and told her what sad story I would write,' and suggested Melpomene, or Penthos: Melpomene was adopted. ””
“But, apart from the soldiers, neither sex wore any head covering, their thick hair seeming to afford them all the protection needed from the fierce rays of the vertical sun; but both sexes wore a kind of buskin of soft leather reaching to just below the knee, the sole consisting of a shaped piece of thick hide stitched on to the under part of the buskin.”
“Pierre le grand: Or, "The poker chip" and "The buskin," Bacchus, and Aphrodite (not Venus), Comus, and Momus: exalting natural virtues and rebuking hypocracy both in church and state by J. W Rogers”
“He cast the leathern brogue or buskin from his right foot, planted himself in a firm posture, unsheathed his sword, and first looking around to collect his resolution, he bowed three times deliberately towards the holly-tree, and as often to the little fountain, repeating at the same time, with a determined voice, the following rhyme:”
“The costume of an Amazonian crest and plume, a tucked-up vest, and a tight buskin of sky-blue silk, buckled with diamonds, reconciled Lady Binks to the part of Hippolyta.”
“(Id., acte i, scene 4) — The lonely east, how wearisome to me! — would not suit a lover in comedy; the figure of the “lonely east” is too elevated for the simplicity of the buskin.”
“Mai fren wuz at SCA event, an da Wicked Tinkers wuz der too, buskin an stuff.”
rockstah kitteh - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“Ya know, I kinda like the Roman soldier buskin look, with the laces strapped around my legs.”
“Chantilly, which appeared in yesterday's 'Musee,' the satirist, making some disgraceful allusions to the cobbler's change of name upon assuming the buskin, quoted a Latin line about which we have often conversed.”
“It must be the reading of tragedies that fills them with this superstition for the buskin and the pall, and not a sympathy with existing nature and the spirit of the age.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘buskin’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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phrontistery - b
List of words from phrontistery.info
babeldom, baccate, bacchanal, bacciferous, bacciform, baccivorous, bacillicide, backstay, bactericide, baculiform, baculine, baculum and 582 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Ecclesiastical Vestments
Names of articles of clothing and paraphernalia worn by or pertaining to the clergy in former and modern times. Trappings, uniforms, call them what you will. Because the term dog collar, once-remov...
mitra pretiosa, auriferata, chasuble, phelonion, plicata, garment, amphibalus, amphibalum, casula planeta, casula, tunicle, maniple and 109 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
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Blood Meridian
scullery, Leonid, parricide, boll, boatswain, walleyed, divest, diffident, rookery, coiffure, heady, garish and 177 more...
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Historical Costume Box
This is just sort of my "unsorted pit" of costumes to be organized later. It's a really broad topic, so right now, anything goes! Thanks for the contributions!
baldric, bliaut, coif, cote-hardie, farthingale, houppelande, partlet, tabard, kirtle, wimple, buskin, greatcoat and 33 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, B
bloviate, bejesus, brouhaha, behoove, bodacious, bamboozle, banshee, bub, bolus, blob, bubbly, bleb and 414 more...
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Boots
Types of boots used as footwear, or in a few cases, to protect the feet and legs of horses.
"...waterleg and gumboots each for Bully Hayes and Hurricane Hartigan..." --Finnegans Wakeankle-jack, jackboot, Hessian boot, Wellington boot, wellie, gumboot, galoshes, goloe-shoes, galosh, overshoe, galoche, galage and 73 more...
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Ancient Greek Costume Box
cestus, cestus (gloves), myrmex, sphairai, buskin, cothurnus, calotte, camisia, chlamys, chiton, exomis, tunic and 5 more...
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End in -kin
You heard it here first. Well, maybe not first, but you heard it here. Well, maybe not "heard," but read. You read it here. At some point.
gherkin, merkin, firkin, malkin, pumpkin, bumpkin, pipkin, bodkin, napkin, mannikin, pigskin, sealskin and 83 more...
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Greek
Tweets
Looking for tweets for buskin.

madmouth as in `Buskin`d Amazon` Apr 11, 2009
sionnach Mevroueeewen!
There's a sale on Manolo Blahkin buskins over at the Kaaaaterskill market. Deep discounts. Everything must go! Oct 18, 2008