Mills & Boonn.adj.

Brit.

/ˌmɪlz (ə)n(d) ˈbuːn/, U.S.

/ˌmɪlz (ə)n(d) ˈbun/

Forms: 1900s– Mills and Boon, 1900s– Mills & Boon.

Origin: From proper names. Etymons: proper names Mills, Boon.

Etymology: < the names of Gerald Mills (1877–1928) and Charles Boon (1877–1943), who together founded the publishing house Mills & Boon Limited in 1908.

A. n.

1. A proprietary name for: a (type of) popular romantic novel published by Mills & Boon Limited. Frequently attributive.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [adjective] > types of novel

picaresque1822

Gothic1825

Minerva press1843

yellow1843

western1846

bluggy1876

cape and sword (also cape and cloak)1898

Mills & Boon1912

straight1936

blockbusting1943

Mills and Boony1946

private eye1946

police procedural1957

thrillerish1957

porno-Gothic1968

romantic1977

neo-noir1986

bonkbusting1993

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > romantic novel

romance novel1662

Minerva1844

Mills & Boon1982

1912 Dundee Courier 8 Aug. In choosing a ‘Mills & Boon’ novel readers of fiction can never go very far wrong when in quest of genuine entertainment.

1952 W. H. Smith Trade Circular 26 July 18/3 Without ever having read a Mills & Boon romance I know I can quite safely say to the vague customer in search of ‘a nice romance’—‘Try a Mills & Boon romance!’

1982 J. Scott Uprush of Mayhem iii. 23 I reckon she must have been lonely. Read a lot of Mills and Boon.

1990 Sunday Tel. 18 Feb. 61/4 I found her..,with Meg and Mog and a child's mittened paw in one hand and a Mills & Boon in the other.

2. allusive. A person or situation reminiscent of the type of fiction published by Mills & Boon Limited, esp. in its light, romantic manner or style.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > romantic situation or material

Mills & Boon1982

1982 Financial Times 13 Jan. 19/1 Barry Manilow, the Mills and Boon of popular music.

1989 Daily Tel. 23 Dec. (Weekend Suppl.) p. xvii/4 [He] takes her in his arms—‘her face like a wet flower at his lips,’ (a touch of Mills & Boon there..).

1998 R. Ray Certain Age 234 I thought he'd touch me and lean over, I thought he'd stare into my eyes, pull us closer to a Mills and Boon.

2000 Herald (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 9 Mar. Linklater sometimes seems to force real-life material into an elaborate format that it doesn't fit. This leads to touches of..Mills & Boon.

B. adj.

allusive. Denoting idealized and sentimental romantic situations of a kind associated with the fiction published by Mills & Boon Limited.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [adjective] > relating to romantic situation

Mills & Boon1986

1986 Financial Times 26 Feb. 19 What a paucity of sex there is on television, of either the feminine type (Mills and Boon romance) or of the more masculine variety.

1990 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 15 Oct. 2/6 When in-vitro fertilisation pioneer Carl Wood met his future wife it was not a Mills and Boon romance.

1994 Observer 6 Nov. 1/6 I know this sounds a bit Mills & Boon, but Penny and I are an item.

1996 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 19 June 1/3 Women were being given a ‘Mills and Boon model of motherhood’ through media images and public rhetoric.

Derivatives

ˌMills and ˈBoonish adj. characteristic of a Mills and Boon novel; romantic, storybook.

ΚΠ

1990 Sunday Times 19 Aug. iii. 18/8 A wonderfully Mills & Boonish tale about a young couple.

1999 Herald (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 20 Mar. Its Mills and Boonish romance with that kitschy title, designed to draw the entire female sex into complicity.

ˌMills and ˈBoony adj. rare = Mills and Boonish adj.

ΘΚΠ