boulder Hear it!

boulder Definition

boul·der (bōl′dər)

noun

  1. any large rock worn smooth and round by weather and water
  2. Geol. such a rock larger than a cobblestone with a diameter of at least 256 mm (c. 10 in)

Etymology: ME bulder, short for bulderston < Scand, as in Swed bullersten, lit., noisy stone < bullra, to roar (akin to bellow) + sten, stone

Boulder Definition

Boul·der (bōl′dər)

city in NC Colo.: pop. 95,000

Etymology: from the abundance of large rocks there

boulder Synonyms

boulder

n.

stone, fieldstone, slab, crag; see rock 2.

boulder Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • strew: From boulder strewn floor many boulder mazes lead off including a ' z alley ' .
  • dislodge: Large boulder dislodged from left wall partially blocking end passage half way down.
  • poise: At the top, a cornice of poised boulders can be passed to a hanging ledge beneath a vast hanging choke.
  • perch: I carefully hopped up onto it mindful of a load of perched boulders.
  • hurl: Maybe hurling big boulders - even making them change into steaming chunks of lava on the way - is more your thing.

Adjective modifier

  • jammed: First, a couple of jammed boulders jammed at head height in the passage were removed.
  • calcited: This is a fairly complicated feature, which drops about 3 meters over calcited boulders.
  • erratic: Samson's putting stone - a glacial erratic boulder can be seen up on the hillside to the right.
  • glacial: Samson's putting stone - a glacial erratic boulder can be seen up on the hillside to the right.
  • loose: At the bottom, an incline past once loose boulders leads to a second 50 foot shaft.
  • rounded: Between well rounded, greasy boulders the water was deep, cold and fast.

Modifies a noun

  • ruckle: A further look at Marble Hall revealed a boulder ruckle with a very large passage leading off.
  • choke: Turning left at the T-junction a low passage enters an area of boulder chokes.
  • clay: The cliffs change here from boulder clay to chalk.
  • scree: This included climbing over boulders to get to likely areas of boulder scree, and getting onto the scree itself.
  • slope: Once the dust had settled most of the boulder slope was sixty meters lower down the cave.
  • pile: Here, a steep loose boulder pile must be climbed to where a huge block is jammed across the passage.

Noun used with modifier

  • gritstone: The stream flows away to the left in a passage of roughly circular cross-section, having many gritstone boulders on the floor.
  • granite: We saw, sitting on a vast granite boulder, a man who looked at us.
  • draughting: The downstream, northern passage ends at a draughting boulder choke.