willow
See also: Willow
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English wilwe, welew, variant of wilghe, from Old English welig, from Proto-West Germanic *wilig, from Proto-Indo-European *welik- (compare (Arcadian) Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), Hittite 𒌑𒂖𒆪 (welku, “grass”)), from *wel- (“twist, turn”).
PronunciationEdit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈwɪl.əʊ/
- Rhymes: -ɪləʊ
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈwɪloʊ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪloʊ
NounEdit
willow (countable and uncountable, plural willows)
- Any of various deciduous trees or shrubs in the genus Salix, in the willow family Salicaceae, found primarily on moist soils in cooler zones in the northern hemisphere.
- 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
- […] and through the middle of this forest, from wall to wall, ran a winding line of brilliant green which marked the course of cottonwoods and willows.
- The wood of these trees.
- (cricket, colloquial) A cricket bat.
- (baseball, slang, 1800s) The baseball bat.
- A rotating spiked drum used to open and clean cotton heads.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
tree
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VerbEdit
willow (third-person singular simple present willows, present participle willowing, simple past and past participle willowed)
- (transitive) To open and cleanse (cotton, flax, wool, etc.) by means of a willow.
- (intransitive) To form a shape or move in a way similar to the long, slender branches of a willow.
- 1928, Robert Byron, The Station: Travels to the Holy Mountain of Greece, Chapter 12,[1]
- Willowing over the rough cobbles of the little pier stepped a thin, bent figure, adorned with a silver nannygoat’s beard and bobbling eyes interrupted by the rim of a pair of pince-nez.
- 1930, Talbot Mundy, Black Light, Chapter 7,[2]
- Joe’s impulse was to sketch her, with her shadow willowing beyond her on the mouse-gray paving-stone; but his left fist, obeying instinct, remained clenched behind his back […]
- 1985, Martin Booth, Hiroshima Joe, New York: Picador, p. 394,[3]
- It was floating a foot under the surface. The eyes were holes. The mouth was a slit cavern of darkness. The hair willowed around the scalp.
- 2013, Dean Koontz, Wilderness, Bantam Books,[4]
- The draft-drawn smoke willowed down through the hole and across my face, but I didn’t worry about coughing or sneezing.
- 1928, Robert Byron, The Station: Travels to the Holy Mountain of Greece, Chapter 12,[1]