buskin

[ buhs-kin ]

/ ˈbʌs kɪn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR buskin ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a thick-soled, laced boot or half boot.

Also called cothurnus. the high, thick-soled shoe worn by ancient Greek and Roman tragedians.

buskins, stockings decorated with gold thread worn by a bishop at a Pontifical Mass.

tragic drama; tragedy.Compare sock¹(def 3).

the art of acting, especially tragic acting.

a woman's low-cut shoe with elastic gores at the sides of the instep, popular in the early 20th century.

RELATED WORDS

chaps, puttees, buskins, jackboot

Nearby words

Origin of buskin

1495–1505; probably alteration of Middle French bro(u)sequin, of uncertain origin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for buskin

Cf. Il Penseroso, 102: "the buskin'd stage;" that is, the tragic stage.
Select Poems of Thomas Gray|Thomas Gray
In that early epoch of our literature the sock and buskin had indeed been worn by a reckless race.
Amenities of Literature|Isaac Disraeli
But now I hope to do easily much more of the kind, and that our new Irish players will find the buskin and the sock.
In The Seven Woods|William Butler (W.B.) Yeats
Here there were only two rooms, one for Buskin, the maid-servant, and the other unfurnished.
Susan|Amy Walton

There is one point of resemblance between the hero of the sock and buskin and the Knight of the quill.
My Life: or the Adventures of Geo. Thompson|George Thompson

British Dictionary definitions for buskin

buskin

/ (ˈbʌskɪn) /

noun

(formerly) a sandal-like covering for the foot and leg, reaching the calf and usually laced

Also called: cothurnus a thick-soled laced half boot resembling this, worn esp by actors of ancient Greece

the buskin mainly literary tragic drama

Word Origin for buskin

C16: perhaps from Spanish borzeguí; related to Old French bouzequin, Italian borzacchino, of obscure origin

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

Word Origin and History for buskin

buskin

"half boot," c.1500, origin unknown. The word exists in different forms in most of the continental languages, and the exact relationship of them all apparently has yet to be determined. The English word is perhaps immediately from Old French broissequin "buskin; a kind of cloth" (14c., Modern French brodequin by influence of broder "to embroider"), or from Middle Dutch brosekin "small leather boot," which is of uncertain origin. OED suggests a likely candidate in Spanish borcegui, earlier boszegui

Figurative senses in English relating to tragedy are from the word being used (since mid-16c.) to translate Greek kothurnus, the high, thick-soled boot worn in Athenian tragedy; contrasted with sock, the low shoe worn by comedians. Related: Buskined.