Crossword clues for billow
billow
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Billow \Bil"low\, n. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. b["o]lge, Sw. b["o]lja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
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A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind.
Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll.
--Cowper. A great wave or flood of anything.
--Milton.
Billow \Bil"low\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Billowed; p. pr. & vb.
n. Billowing.]
To surge; to rise and roll in waves or surges; to undulate.
``The billowing snow.''
--Prior.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1550s, perhaps older in dialectal use, from Old Norse bylgja "a wave, a billow," from Proto-Germanic *bulgjan (cognates: Middle High German bulge "billow, bag"), from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell" (see belly (n.)).
1590s, from billow (n.). Related: Billowed; billowing.
Wiktionary
n. A large wave, swell, surge, or undulating mass of something, such as water, smoke, fabric or sound vb. 1 To surge or roll in billows 2 To swell out or bulge
WordNet
n. a large sea wave [syn: surge]
v. rise up as if in waves; "smoke billowed up nto the sky" [syn: wallow]
move with great difficulty; "The soldiers billowed across the muddy riverbed"
rise and move, as in waves or billows; "The army surged forward" [syn: surge, heave]
become inflated; "The sails ballooned" [syn: balloon, inflate]
Usage examples of "billow".
Wood snapped, glass exploded and Barnacle, speckled with splinters, billowed through yellow velvet and out into the late afternoon!
He gestured to the nearest bedin and then turned and strode out through the silken hangings, his white robes billowing behind him, a sickly frightened girl hurrying in his wake.
His plan of salvation was so narrow, that, like a plank in a tempestuous sea, it could avail no sinner but himself, who bestrode it triumphantly, and hurled anathemas against the wretches whom he saw struggling with the billows of eternal death.
Smoke took shape in a ring billowing gently upward in the thin sunlight, now you take your name, suppose you just decided that you.
Carefully, he balanced sun overhead through the billowing clouds, shot the horizon with the half-mirror, then did a few calculations.
Hoots of agony could be heard in the billowing smoke, and the sec men fired short volleys seeking live targets.
Trying to force limp fingers to trigger the longblaster, he slumped over and lay unnaturally still within the billowing gray cloud.
The campfire snuffed instantly as clouds of billowing steam rose, folding in upon themselves in the moisture-heavy air, then dissipated into a wide, thin fog that hung low to the ground.
It appeared to be a large man and wide, with billowing edges that flapped in the screaming wind.
Those billowing shadows danced across the furniture in time to the music of the breeze.
She curtsied deeply and took her leave of his keep, walking into the billowing arms of the winter wind.
The wind blew in and down the tower, billowing her hair all around her as the fire disappeared.
In the half-light she looked like the legends of the Windchild, with her golden tresses billowing around her.
The horse leapt into a gallop, the black mriswith cape billowing out behind.
The tarp suddenly flapped louder, billowing, cutting right to find the path of least resistance.