willow
See also: Willow
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English wilwe, welew, variant of wilghe, from Old English welig, from Proto-West Germanic *wilig, from Proto-Germanic *wiligaz, from Proto-Indo-European *welik- (compare (Arcadian) Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), Hittite 𒌑𒂖𒆪 (welku, “grass”)), from *wel- (“twist, turn”).
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈwɪl.əʊ/
- Rhymes: -ɪləʊ
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈwɪloʊ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪloʊ
Noun edit
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.
- 1917, Edward Thomas, “Adlestrop”, in Poems, London: Selwyn & Blount, page 40:
- And willows, willow-herb, and grass, / And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, / No whit less still and lonely fair / Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
- 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.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
- almond willow
- Australian willow
- Babylon willow
- balsam willow
- basket willow
- bay willow
- Bedford willow
- black willow
- crack willow
- desert willow
- downy willow
- French willow
- goat willow
- Huntingdon willow
- Kennicott's willow warbler
- least willow
- peachleaf willow
- Peking willow
- polar willow
- primrose-willow
- pussy-willow
- pussy willow
- Red Willow County
- Red Willow Creek
- sageleaf willow
- sea-willow
- sea willow
- strip the willow
- water willow
- weeping willow
- white willow
- willow fly
- willow goldfinch
- willow grouse
- willowherb
- willow in the wind
- willow-leaved justicia
- willow oak
- willow ptarmigan
- willow tit
- willow tree
- willow warbler
- willow-weed
- willow-wort
- willow wren
Translations edit
tree
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Verb edit
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, chapter 12, in The Station: Travels to the Holy Mountain of Greece[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, chapter 7, in Black Light[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, page 394:
- 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[3], Bantam Books:
- The draft-drawn smoke willowed down through the hole and across my face, but I didn’t worry about coughing or sneezing.