hollow
verb
- create an empty space
noun
- depressed landform
adjective
- having a hole or empty space inside
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈhɒləʊ/ / /ˈhɒlə/ / /ˈhɔlo/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English holowe, holwe, holuȝ, holgh, from the noun (see above).
- Having an empty space or cavity inside.
“a hollow tree; a hollow sphere”
- Distant, eerie; echoing, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched.
“He let out a hollow moan.”
“Through thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle:”
- Without substance; having no real or significant worth; meaningless.
“a hollow victory”
- Insincere, devoid of validity; specious.
“a hollow promise”
“"Hey, if anything happens to that, my ass is grass," Y.T. says. She's trying to sound tough and brave, but it's a hollow act in these circumstances.”
- Concave; gaunt; sunken.
“To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow”
- Pertaining to hollow body position
- Synonym of empty (“lacking between the onset of tasting and the finish”).
“While most 1974s remain hard, tannic, hollow wines lacking ripeness, flesh, and character, a number of the Graves estates did produce surprisingly spicy, interesting wines.”
adv
Etymology: From Middle English holowe, holwe, holuȝ, holgh, from the noun (see above).
- Completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.
intj
Etymology: Compare holler.
- Alternative form of hollo.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English holow, holowe, holwe, holwȝ, holgh, from Old English holh (“a hollow”), from Proto-West Germanic *holh, from Proto-Germanic *hulhwą, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ḱólḱwos. Cognate with Old High German huliwa and hulwa, Middle High German hülwe. Related to hole.
- A small valley between mountains.
“He built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Rockies.”
“c. 1710–20, Matthew Prior, The First Hymn Of Callimachus: To Jupiter Forests grew upon the barren hollows.”
- A sunken area on a surface.
“He held the chick in the hollow of his hand.”
- An unfilled space in something solid; a cavity, natural or artificial.
“a hollow in a tree trunk”
- A feeling of emptiness.
“a hollow in the pit of one’s stomach”
verb
Etymology: Compare holler.
- To call or urge by shouting; to hollo.
“[T]he Converſation (if it may be called ſo) was ſeldom ſuch as could entertain a Lady. It conſiſted chiefly of Hollowing, Singing, Relations of ſporting Adventures, B—d—y, and Abuſe of Women and of the Government.”
“He has hollowed the hounds.”