Boswell

English

Lake steamers at Boswell in the Kootenays

Etymology

Scottish surname, from Norman, named after Beuzeville, from Beuze +‎ -ville ("Bosi's farm"); first element from Old Norse Bosi, from Proto-Germanic *bausuz.

Proper noun

Boswell

1. A Scottish habitational surname from Old French of Norman origin from Beuzeville in France.
   1. James Boswell, biographer of Samuel Johnson.
2. A place name:
   1. A hamlet in Elkington parish, East Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TF2790).
   2. A town in Grant Township, Benton County, Indiana, United States.
   3. A town in Choctaw County, Oklahoma, United States.
   4. A borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States.
   5. A community on Kootenay Lake in the Kootenays, south-east British Columbia, Canada.
   6. A former cannery town on the Central Coast of British Columbia.

Derived terms

• Boswellian
• Boswellism
• Boswellize

Noun

Boswell (plural Boswells)

1. A devoted admirer and recorder of a person's words and deeds.
   • 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, 'A Scandal in Bohemia':

     "I think that I had better go, Holmes."
     "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it."

See also

• St Boswells

Anagrams

• Bellows, bellows