bodice ripper

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noun Informal.

a modern Gothic novel or historical romance, usually in paperback format, featuring at least one passionate love scene, characteristically one in which the heroine vainly resists submitting to the villain or hero.

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Also called bodice buster.

Words nearby bodice ripper

Bodhidharma, Bodhisattva, Bodhi Tree, bodhran, bodice, bodice ripper, Bo Diddley beat, bodied, bodiless, bodily, boding

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bodice ripper in a sentence

Did the Ripper quit because he feared that he was close to being caught?
Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack the Ripper|Clive Irving|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This makes the guide to the Jack the Ripper Walk seem rather dated.
Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack the Ripper|Clive Irving|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Of course, you could protest that Sherlock did not really exist and the Ripper did.
Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack the Ripper|Clive Irving|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Later heads of Scotland Yard admitted that the Ripper should have been caught.
Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack the Ripper|Clive Irving|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST

LONDON — If Sherlock Holmes was such a smart detective, why was he not put on the case of Jack the Ripper?
Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack the Ripper|Clive Irving|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Old Ripper, a talkative, discontented man, stopped and ventured to enter on his grievances.
Elster's Folly|Mrs. Henry Wood
Mr. Ripper's opinion was that he had lost his senses with the blow on the temple, and fell an easy prey to death.
Elster's Folly|Mrs. Henry Wood
Mr. Ripper's logic tended to the belief that he could not be punished if he stuck to the avowal of having seen nothing.
Elster's Folly|Mrs. Henry Wood
She sighed, and unperceived her hand went up to her bodice, where she wore a little silver cross.
A Butterfly on the Wheel|Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull
The stays insisted a little cruelly on the lines of her figure, and the tight bodice betrayed her narrow-chested.
Hilda|Sarah Jeanette Duncan

British Dictionary definitions for bodice ripper

bodice ripper

noun

informal a romantic novel, usually on a historical theme, that involves some sex and violence

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012