1. A specially intimate or beloved friend.
1590. Greene, Never too Late (1600), 56. There is nothing better than a bosom friend with whom to conferre.
1650. Hubbert, Pill Formality, 221. His … inward bosome friends.
1699. Shaftesb., Inq. conc. Virtue, II. ii. 147. The secrets of the Breast unfolded to a Bosom-friend.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 13. Polybius … was the bosom friend of her destroyer.
† 2. transf. An article of wearing apparel to protect the bosom from cold. Obs. (Cf. comforter.)
1802. Hull Packet, 28 Sept., 2/2. Handkerchiefs, tippets, bosom friends and other articles peculiarly adapted to the ensuing season.
1838. Workwoman’s Guide, xi. 275. Some persons do not hollow out bosom friends, but knit them square or oblong.
