Whole"some (?), a. [Compar. Wholesomer (?); superl. Wholesomest.] [Whole + some; cf. Icel. heilsamr, G. heilsam, D. heilzaam.]
1.
Tending to promote health; favoring health; salubrious; salutary.
Wholesome thirst and appetite.
Milton.
From which the industrious poor derive an agreeable and wholesome variety of food.
A Smith.
2.
Contributing to the health of the mind; favorable to morals, religion, or prosperity; conducive to good; salutary; sound; as, wholesome advice; wholesome doctrines; wholesome truths; wholesome laws.
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life.
Prov. xv. 4.
I can not . . . make you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseased.
Shak.
A wholesome suspicion began to be entertained.
Sir W. Scott.
3.
Sound; healthy.
[Obs.]
Shak.
-- Whole"some*ly, adv. -- Whole"some*ness, n.
© Webster 1913.