bowl
bowl (bōl)
noun
- a deep, rounded container or dish, open at the top
- the capacity or contents of a bowl
- a thing or part shaped like a bowl; specif.,
- the rounded or hollow part of a spoon or smoking pipe
- washbowl
- the basin of a toilet
- a hollow land formation
- ☆ in full bowl game
- an amphitheater or stadium
- any of various football games played annually after the regular season between teams selected for their superior records
- Archaic a large drinking vessel
Etymology: ME bolle < OE bolla, cup, bowl < IE base *bhel-, to swell, inflate (see ball); infl. in OE by L bulla, bubble, ball
Related Forms:
- bowllike bowl′·like′ adjective
bowl (bōl)
noun
- the wooden ball rolled at the target ball, or jack, in the game of lawn bowling: it is weighted or shaped to give it a bias when rolling
- a roll of the ball in bowling or lawn bowling
- a roller, drum, or wheel, as in some machines
Etymology: ME & OFr boule < L bulla, bubble, knob: see boil
intransitive verb
- to participate or take a turn in bowling or lawn bowling
- to roll a ball with an underhand motion, as in bowling or lawn bowling
- to move swiftly and smoothly the car bowled steadily along
- Cricket to throw a ball to the batsman
transitive verb
- to throw so as to make roll; roll
- to make a score of in bowling to bowl 180
- to cause to move along swiftly and smoothly, as on wheels
- Cricket to put (a batsman out) by bowling the balls off the wicket
bowl over
- to knock over with or as with something rolled
- Informal to astonish and confuse; stagger the election results bowled them over
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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