juicy
- 1Containing plenty of juice, as ripe fruit or a tender roast does.
She bit into a juicy plum and had to wipe her chin.
Letting the brisket rest before slicing keeps the meat juicy.
Note
The literal sense has a drunken ancestor: Middle English jousy meant "drunken," literally "full of juice," the juice being liquor. Today it describes food, from a ripe peach to a pot roast, and its opposites are dry or, once the moisture has gone, dried out and dried up. It compares as juicier and juiciest, with the y turning to i.
- 2Arousing eager interest or excitement, often by being slightly shocking or suggestive; usually said of stories, news, and rumors.
Reporters spent the week chasing juicy rumors about the senator's private life.
After years of routine contracts, the young lawyer was thrilled to land a juicy case.
Similarspicy, sensational, scandalous, racy, salacious
Note
Here the appetite is for news rather than food, and the metaphor never quite leaves the table: its near neighbors saucy and spicy are kitchen words too, and a juicy problem is one you get your teeth into. With rumors and confessions it promises scandal. With a problem or a case it means meaty and rewarding, and nothing improper is implied.
- 3Having a full, curvy, generously rounded figure, and sexually attractive because of it.
She tried on the fitted dress, checked the mirror, and grinned: "Okay, I look juicy."
The singer's new video celebrates juicy, confident women who love their curves.
Similarhot, attractive, gorgeous, beautiful, desirable
Oppositescrawny
Note
The compliment is slang and frankly sexual, and its neighbors show what it admires: luscious is its nearest synonym, scrawny its opposite. Said about yourself or among close friends, it sounds confident and admiring. From a stranger or a coworker it becomes a remark on someone's body and can easily offend. Casual talk is its home, and formal writing is not.
Less common meaning
- 4Forceful and therefore painful; usually said of a blow, a punch, or some other strike.
He walked straight into the low beam, and the knock was a juicy one; he was still rubbing his forehead an hour later.
“Your head feels funny, doesn't it?” “It does rather,” I said, the bump I had given it had been a juicy one, and the temples were throbbing.
1960, (P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the OffingSimilarhard, nasty, heavy, solid, painful
Oppositelight
Note
Blows can be juicy too, though the use is uncommon. P. G. Wodehouse has one in Jeeves in the Offing (1960): a bump on the head "had been a juicy one," and the temples were throbbing. The opposite is a light blow. Since the word so easily suggests gossip and scandal, name the knock, kick or bump close by, as Wodehouse does, so the word cannot be misread.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English jousy or jowsy, meaning "drunken" (literally "full of juice," in the sense of liquor). By surface analysis, it can be seen as juice + -y.