Is the plural “bosoms” an acceptable word? Or is it always “bosom”?

Question

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bosom

I found recently that even an elderly educated woman was referring to her bosom in the plural, as her bosoms.

Please settle my discomfort finally, and clarify if this can be used as a plural word.

I thought it was just English deprived younger kids who used "Bosoms" in this manner. :-))

Answer 1

Under its entry for ‘bosom’, the OED has ‘pl. In recent use, a woman's breasts. colloq.’ with the earliest citation dated 1959. The OED would appear to have missed the references in Peter’s answer.

Answer 2

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22her+bosoms%22+site:gutenberg.org

In short, there are a few examples which are unambiguously referring to multiple bosoms of a single female and which are old enough to be out of copyright. They include poetry from 1888, pornography from 1898, and a novel from 1840 (albeit by someone whose poor prose led to the naming of a prize for bad opening lines).

Answer 3

"Bosom" is generally used to refer to the chest area of a person, and therefore the singular is usually used. However, there has been uses of the word "bosoms" to refer to the "breasts" of a woman:

2003, Martin Kelner, The Guardian, 7 Apr 2003:
The prevailing look at Aintree was of a well-upholstered woman wearing an outfit about three sizes too small for her; trouser suits so tight you could not only tell if the lady had a coin in her pocket but see if it was heads or tails, and skimpy tops proclaiming proudly that bosoms are back - and this time it's personal.

This seems however, to be a relatively new usage. Wiktionary defines it as:

(in the plural) A woman's breasts. [from 20th c.]

Thus, it's been coined, yes, rather recently.

I suppose, with language changing, it is correct now to refer to "bosoms", although it isn't so, originally.

However, I must make the distinction in this case. "Bosoms" doesn't refer to one person's chest area, but rather the chest areas of several people in general, the way you would say, chins.