boisterous

From Middle English boistres, an alteration of Middle English boistous, from Anglo-Norman bustous (“rough”), perhaps from Old French boitous (“noisy”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔɪstəɹəs/, /ˈbɔɪstɹəs/

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boisterous (comparative more boisterous, superlative most boisterous)

1. Full of energy; exuberant; noisy.
2. Characterized by violence and agitation; wild; stormy.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv:

     ſtaggering like a quiuering Aſpen leafe,
     Fearing the force of Boreas boiſtrous blaſts.

   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 219:

     A new and elegant dress had been provided by Lady Anne for the second day, but it was of less costly material, and, by the same rule, considerably slighter; so that Fanchette suggested the idea of substituting a slip to make it equally warm, as the weather had set in cold and boisterous.

3. Having or resembling animal exuberance.

• boisterously
• boisterousness