billow

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Quotations 1.3.2 Translations 1.4 Verb 1.4.1 Translations 1.5 References

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Old Norse bylgja^[1], from Proto-Germanic *bulgjan. Cognates include Danish bølge, Middle High German bulga and Low German bulge.

[edit] Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈbɪləʊ/
• (US) IPA: /ˈbɪloʊ/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

  Rhymes: -ɪləʊ

[edit] Noun

billow (plural billows)

1. A large wave, swell, surge, or undulating mass of water, smoke or sound

[edit] Quotations

					18??	1922
ME: [[{{{enm}}}]] «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 18?? — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Brook and the Wave

  And the brooklet has found the billow
  Though they flowed so far apart.

• 1922 — Clark Ashton Smith, The Caravan

  Have the swirling sands engulfed them, on a noon of storm when the desert rose like the sea, and rolled its tawny billows on the walled gardens of the green and fragrant lands?

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to billow (third-person singular simple present billows, present participle billowing, simple past and past participle billowed)

1. To surge or roll in billows
2. To swell out or bulge

[edit] Translations

[edit] References

• Notes:

1. ^ Etymology in w:Online Etymology Dictionary