- a large wave; great swell of water
- any large swelling mass or surge, as of smoke, sound, etc.
Origin of billow
Old Norse bylgja: see belly to surge, swell, or rise like or in a billow
to make billow or surge
Smoke is billowing out of these factory chimneys.
- An example of billow is when fabric blows outward in the wind.
- An example of billow is when smoke wafts upward in gentle waves.
To billow is to swell outward or to move or rise up as if caused by waves.
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billow
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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billow
noun
- A large wave or swell of water.
- A great swell, surge, or undulating mass, as of smoke or sound.
verb
bil·lowed, bil·low·ing, bil·lowsverb
intransitive- To surge or roll in billows.
- To swell out or bulge: sheets billowing in the breeze.
verb
transitiveTo cause to billow: wind that billowed the sails.
Origin of billow
From Old Norse bylgja a wave ; see bhelgh- in Indo-European roots.Related Forms:
- bil′low·i·ness
noun
- bil′low·y
adjective
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"Billow." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Billow.
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Billow. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Billow
Noun
(plural billows)
Verb
(third-person singular simple present billows, present participle billowing, simple past and past participle billowed)
Origin
From Old Norse bylgja , from Proto-Germanic *bulgijǭ. Cognates include Danish bølge, Middle High German bulga and Low German bulge.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"Billow." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Billow.
APA Style
Billow. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Billow
Sentence Examples
- Unfortunately for him the first orders sent to Billow by Gneisenau, chief of the staff, at midnight June 14-1 5, were written in so stilted and hazy a style that Billow did not consider any especial display of energy was required.
- In his speech of the 13th of January 1903, in which he made the above admission, Count Billow also had to admit the failure of the Prussian policy.
- A cautious and versatile diplomatist like Bernhard von Billow appears to be best adapted to the personal and political necessities of the present situation."
- On the 6th of June 1905 Count Billow was raised to the rank of prince (Fiirst), on the occasion of the marriage of the crown prince.
- Billow (1827-1901), an official in the Prussian foreign office, who in 1882 was appointed German envoy at Bern, from 1892 to 1898 was Prussian envoy to the Vatican, and died at Rome on the 22nd of November 1901.
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