Is there an actual term for "absolute cleavage"?

[HHHawkeye]

I've been looking to see if there's a more officially-recognized term for what TV Tropes describes as "Absolute Cleavage":

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AbsoluteCleavage

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kasuga-sb4-render_4493.png

The cleavage created by an outfit so low-cut that it's basically only hiding the breasts from the nipples outward, exposing nearly everything between the nipples for everyone to see.

I don't want to just name-drop TV Tropes terminology in my story, but I haven't actually been able to find an official name for this phenomenon outside of TV Tropes. Is there one?

 

[NotWise]

I've been looking to see if there's a more officially-recognized term for what TV Tropes describes as "Absolute Cleavage"

Do you need one word for it? Some things are better described than named.

 

[HHHawkeye]

Do you need one word for it? Some things are better described than named.

Sort of. I do describe it in more detail earlier, and now I need a shorthand to put here so that the sentence flows quickly:

"This 18-year-old boy was resting his head in Anya Safflower's honest-to-goodness lap, staring straight up at her warmly smiling face through the absolute cleavage of that outrageously sexy dress, having his messy red hair stroked lovingly by her."

 

[Inkhorn]

“The dress was less of a V-neck and more of a V-navel.”

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't know of a particular term but would just substitute another adjective for "absolute."

Spellbinding cleavage
Extreme cleavage
Near-total cleavage
Etc.

You can also use words like decolletage, or exposure

 

[Polyacrylate]

I don't know if it means absolute, (and a quick Google search doesn't support that interpretation), but I recall seeing a definition for the word bathycolpian as something along the lines of "an unusually large display of cleavage."

I think my teachers would be disappointed that, of all the things I learned in a high school literature class, the two items I brought up most recently have been this and the origin of the term la petite mort.

 

[NotWise]

"This 18-year-old boy was resting his head in Anya Safflower's honest-to-goodness lap, staring straight up at her warmly smiling face through the absolute cleavage of that outrageously sexy dress, having his messy red hair stroked lovingly by her."

If the reader already knows how the dress is cut, then it should be adequate to say "This 18-year-old boy was resting his head in Anya Safflower's honest-to-goodness lap, staring straight up between her breasts at her warmly smiling face, having his messy red hair stroked lovingly by her."

I think that sentence has issues other than "absolute cleavage." If it were mine, I'd simplify.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

"Bathykolpian" means "deep-bosomed." It may actually have been coined from the Greek by Oliver Wendell Holmes, who wrote of "bathykolpian Hera," I believe. (bathy = deep kolpos = bosom). So it may refer to the depth of cleavage between the breasts, but wouldn't refer to the display of that cleavage. That is, a woman could be bathykolpian while wearing a nun's guimpe. Perhaps we need a word for that, but I think Simon's suggestion of being briefly descriptive is best if you don't want to use "absolute cleavage." Besides, if you used bathykolpian, who'd know what it meant anyway?

 

[Polyacrylate]

"Bathykolpian" means "deep-bosomed." It may actually have been coined from the Greek by Oliver Wendell Holmes, who wrote of "bathykolpian Hera," I believe. (bathy = deep kolpos = bosom). So it may refer to the depth of cleavage between the breasts, but wouldn't refer to the display of that cleavage. That is, a woman could be bathykolpian while wearing a nun's guimpe. Perhaps we need a word for that, but I think Simon's suggestion of being briefly descriptive is best if you don't want to use "absolute cleavage." Besides, if you used bathykolpian, who'd know what it meant anyway?

Thanks for the clarification. As for who would get it, clearly at least two of us would.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Thanks for the clarification. As for who would get it, clearly at least two of us would.

High school just isn't what it used to be, eh?

 

[SimonDoom]

"Bathykolpian" means "deep-bosomed." It may actually have been coined from the Greek by Oliver Wendell Holmes, who wrote of "bathykolpian Hera," I believe. (bathy = deep kolpos = bosom). So it may refer to the depth of cleavage between the breasts, but wouldn't refer to the display of that cleavage. That is, a woman could be bathykolpian while wearing a nun's guimpe. Perhaps we need a word for that, but I think Simon's suggestion of being briefly descriptive is best if you don't want to use "absolute cleavage." Besides, if you used bathykolpian, who'd know what it meant anyway?

I think of myself as someone with a decent vocabulary, but I've never heard of that word, and if I saw it in a story I wouldn't know what it meant. I'd probably think it referred to a strange-looking deep-sea creature, which is not (in most cases, I feel safe in saying) the mental image an author would want to conjure.

You don't want to rely too hard on your thesaurus. If you lose your reader it's all for naught.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

I think of myself as someone with a decent vocabulary, but I've never heard of that word, and if I saw it in a story I wouldn't know what it meant. I'd probably think it referred to a strange-looking deep-sea creature, which is not (in most cases, I feel safe in saying) the mental image an author would want to conjure.

You don't want to rely too hard on your thesaurus. If you lose your reader it's all for naught.

I trust you read my whole post?

 

[AlinaX]

Plunge? Deep plunge? Split front?

 

[SimonDoom]

I trust you read my whole post?

I did. I'm following up on what you wrote, not disputing it.

 

[TxRad]

A blouse or dress like that would give a whole new meaning to navel gazing.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

“The dress was less of a V-neck and more of a V-navel.”

I bow before the master. That is simply amazing.

Back to the original question, I'm with most of the others replying. This isn't Twitter and we aren't limited to some arbitrary number of letters. Describe it.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

Thanks for the clarification. As for who would get it, clearly at least two of us would.

You all beat me to it. Absolute cleavage made me think bathycolpian too. Or, like AlinaX pointed out, simply plunging.

So I have nothing to add except that I have a gown almost exactly like this character's bodysuit but it's green. In case it's helpful to your story, OP: the engineering trick to wearing such is duck tape.

 

[Polyacrylate]

I think of myself as someone with a decent vocabulary, but I've never heard of that word, and if I saw it in a story I wouldn't know what it meant. I'd probably think it referred to a strange-looking deep-sea creature, which is not (in most cases, I feel safe in saying) the mental image an author would want to conjure.

You don't want to rely too hard on your thesaurus. If you lose your reader it's all for naught.

For the record, I'm not necessarily advocating for someone to use of a word like bathyclopian, just that it is a word that I (perhaps mistakenly) thought might fit the requested phrase. I'm almost relieved that a Lit search reveals no stories having used it. Personally, I don't mind obscure words, but do prefer when a story gives context to allow me to understand its meaning.

When I saw your comparison to a deep sea creature, my mind immediately jumped to H.P. Lovecraft: "Within the cyclopean ruins of sunken R'lyeh, bathyclopian Cthulhu sleeps."

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

“The dress was less of a V-neck and more of a V-navel.”

I too bow to the master, but my humble offering:

" The plunging dress didn't so much highlight the magnificent breasts as barely hid the nipples."

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Geology has a term, 'spathic', that describes rocks that split easily. They often term this as 'rocks with high degree of cleavage' or 'having good cleavage'.

That said, I admit to liking making people scratch their heads and reach for dictionaries. . .

 

[jaF0]

http://www.ynaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/jennifer-lopez-versace-dres.jpg

 

[seeshelly]

Library of congress

I looked it up in the Library of congress. Absolute cleavage means: "OMG! Wow! Fuck!"

 

[Tabithablack]

Two cents as a reader 'absolute cleavage' makes no sense to me. How is there an absolute with cleavage?

Considerable cleavage would let the reader determine that they think that is.

I think sometimes people try too hard.

FWIW 'honest to goodness lap'.. in a word "Huh?"

I think I'll stick with the only absolute I know.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I think of myself as someone with a decent vocabulary, but I've never heard of that word, and if I saw it in a story I wouldn't know what it meant. I'd probably think it referred to a strange-looking deep-sea creature, which is not (in most cases, I feel safe in saying) the mental image an author would want to conjure.

(but if it is, do send me a link)

 

[Grendelpuppy]

Biggest cleavage ever

You need to watch the dance scene in VALLEY OF THE GIANTS.