signifies (a) "the front of the body between the arms;" hence, to recline in the "bosom" was said of one who so reclined at table that his head covered, as it were, the "bosom" of the one next to him, Joh 13:23. Hence, figuratively, it is used of a place of blessedness with another, as with Abraham in paradise, Luk 1:16-23 (plural in Luk 16:23), from the custom of reclining at table in the "bosom," a place of honor; of the Lord's eternal and essential relation with the Father, in all its blessedness and affection as intimated in the phrase, "The Only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father" (Joh 1:18); (b) "of the bosom of a garment, the hollow formed by the upper forepart of a loose garment, bound by a girdle and used for carrying or keeping things;" thus figuratively of repaying one liberally, Luk 6:38; cp. Isa 65:6, Jer 39:18; (c) "of an inlet of the sea," because of its shape, like a bosom, Act 27:39. See BAY, CREEK.