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
In its role of vulgar Lady Bountiful, radio is showering quiz-answering Americans from its loudspeaking horn of plenty.
From Time Magazine Archive
With all my heart, sir: my Lady Bountiful is my godmother, and I love Mrs. Dorinda so well— Aim.
From The Beaux-Stratagem A comedy in five acts by Farquhar, George
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
She was popular with the villagers, the lady bountiful of the district, and gave with a liberal hand.
From The Rider in Khaki A Novel by Gould, Nat
Even the function of the lady bountiful who looked after the spiritual and family affairs of her tenants and servants and distributed doles and Christmas baskets was gone.
From Woman in Modern Society by Barnes, Earl
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.
