Dictionary

bona en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈbəʊnə/

Etymology

Borrowed from Sabir bona (“good”), from Italian buono (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”), from Old Latin duenos (“good”), from Proto-Italic *dwenos (“good”). Doublet of bonus.

Meanings

1. (Polari) Good.
   • SANDY: Oh, get him! The vanity of the man. Well, p'raps not Nelson then. How about reproductions of great masterpieces? JULIAN: A bona idea. Now, let me see... 1966, Kenneth Horne, Bona Tattoos (Round the Horne), season 2, spoken by Julian and Sandy (Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams):
   • Will you take a varder at the cartz on the feely-omi in the naf strides: the one with the bona blue ogles polarying the omi-palone with a vogue on and a cod sheitel. 1997, James Gardiner, Who's a Pretty Boy Then?, page 137:
   • Bona to vada you. 1997, Ian Lucas, “The Color of His Eyes: Polari and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”, in Anna Livia, Kira Hall, editors, Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality, page 90:

Forms

Antonyms

bad · cod

Deriveds

bona nochy · bona vardering · bona omi

Synonyms

good

bona en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈbəʊnə/

Etymology

Borrowed from Sabir bona (“good”), from Italian buono (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”), from Old Latin duenos (“good”), from Proto-Italic *dwenos (“good”). Doublet of bonus.

Meanings

1. (Polari) Well.
   • Order lau your luppers on the strillers bona. 1967, Kenneth Horne, Bona Guest House (Round the Horne), season 3, spoken by Julian (Hugh Paddick):

Forms

Relateds

bona peritura · bona vacantia · bona fides · bona roba · nulla bona · bona fide