a wealthy lady in George Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem, noted for her kindness and generosity.
(sometimes lowercase) a woman of noteworthy generosity or charity.
after a character in George Farquhar's play The Beaux' Stratagem (1707)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But count on it: The District’s days of playing Lady Bountiful, ostentatiously spending other people’s money on benevolent causes, are numbered.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2021
That she apparently contains multitudes is an especially useful trait in joining the joyful Lady Bountiful of the opening scenes with the mad misanthrope of the later ones.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2020
In 14 lines, she managed to cast America—in reality a raucous young nation built by the brains and brawn of newcomers—as a sort of Lady Bountiful, selflessly extending asylum to the poorest and most wretched.
From Economist ● Nov. 7, 2013
Bette Davis, a peppery, small-town librarian, moves like Lady Bountiful among the worshipful peasants in her reading room, opening their purblind eyes to the treasure trove on the shelves around them.
From Time Magazine Archive
Later, in presenting the case to George himself, Rosie's manner lost its air of Lady Bountiful, and she pleaded Janet's cause with an earnestness for which Janet would have worshipped her.
From The Rosie World by Fillmore, Parker
In Decatur, 111., a lady bountiful gave a seedy-looking stranger $1 and a cheery injunction: "Keep your spirits high."
From Time Magazine Archive
In The Fly a man kills a fly; in A Cup of Tea, Rosemary Fell, young, wealthy, plays lady bountiful to a starving girl and takes her home for tea.
From Time Magazine Archive
Maidens may not need much protection from pestilence these days, but the Y.W. is still the lady bountiful helping young girls in need.
From Time Magazine Archive
The poor of the district had got to regard Henrietta as their ministering angel because of her labours of love among them, but now she can play the part of lady bountiful no longer.
From The Poor Plutocrats by Bain, R. Nisbet (Robert Nisbet)
She is a lady bountiful, who gives As prodigally as nature, and she asks No gifts from you, but gets them anyway, Because all spirits pour themselves to her.
From Domesday Book by Masters, Edgar Lee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
