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
The impetus is neither a desire to play Lady Bountiful nor a shortage of paying summer jobs, but a useful blend of altruism and self-interest.
From Time Magazine Archive
My Lady Bountiful said so—she, good lady, did what could be done; she cured her of three tympanies, but the fourth carried her off; but she's happy, and I'm contented, as the saying is.
From The Beaux-Stratagem A comedy in five acts by Farquhar, George
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.
