billow

WOTD - 2 June 2006    

English

Etymology

From Old Norse bylgja, from Proto-Germanic *bulgijōn. Cognates include Danish bølge, Middle High German bulga and Low German bulge.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈbɪləʊ/
• (US) IPA: /ˈbɪloʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪləʊ

Noun

billow (plural billows)

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

Translations

large wave

Bulgarian: огромна вълна (bg) Esperanto: ondego (eo) Finnish: hyökyaalto (fi) French: flot (fr) m.

German: Woge (de) f. Malagasy: alòna (mg) Panjabi: ਛੱਲ (chhall) f. Russian: большая волна f., вал m.

Verb

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

Translations

to surge in billows

Bulgarian: надигам се (bg) Finnish: hyökyä (of liquid), vyöryä (of a mass), tupruta (of smoke)

French: ondoyer (fr) German: wabern (de)

to swell or bulge

Bulgarian: издувам се (bg)

Finnish: pullistua