billow
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L316999 on Wikidata ↗verb
- to spread over a large area
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈbɪl.oʊ/ / /ˈbɪl.əʊ/ / /ˈbɪl.əʉ/
name
Etymology: Probably a variant of Bellow or Bellew.
- A surname.
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *belganą Proto-Germanic *bulgijō Old Norse bylgjabor. Middle English *bilwe English billow From Middle English *bilwe, borrowed from Old Norse bylgja, from Proto-Germanic *bulgijō. Cognates include Danish bølge (“wave”); Norwegian Bokmål bølge (“wave”), Norwegian Nynorsk bylgje (“wave”); Swedish bölja (“wave”); German Low German Bulge, Bulg, Bülg (“billow, wave”); German Bulge (“billow, wave”). Compare bellow, bawl.
- A large wave, swell, surge, or undulating mass of something, such as water, smoke, fabric or sound.
“[…] Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll, / From the world's girdle to the frozen pole;”
“The snow fell hissing in the brine, / And the billows frothed like yeast.”
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *belganą Proto-Germanic *bulgijō Old Norse bylgjabor. Middle English *bilwe English billow From Middle English *bilwe, borrowed from Old Norse bylgja, from Proto-Germanic *bulgijō. Cognates include Danish bølge (“wave”); Norwegian Bokmål bølge (“wave”), Norwegian Nynorsk bylgje (“wave”); Swedish bölja (“wave”); German Low German Bulge, Bulg, Bülg (“billow, wave”); German Bulge (“billow, wave”). Compare bellow, bawl.
- To surge or roll in billows.
“During the preceding afternoon a heavy North Pacific fog had blown in … Scudding eastward from the ocean, it had crept up and over the redwood-studded crests of the Coast Range mountains, […], billowing steadily eastward, it had rolled up the western slopes of the Siskiyou Range, […]”
“The nuns' veils billowed and flapped behind the snaky line of girls as if the sisters were shooing the serpent from the Garden of Eden.”
- To swell out or bulge.
“Her new green flowered-muslin dress spread its twelve yards of billowing material over her hoops and exactly matched the flat-heeled green morocco slippers her father had recently brought her from Atlanta.”
“She had changed her auburn hair. Instead of wearing it in a billowing puff over her brow, she had gathered it into a ponytail, secured with a length of yellow yarn.”