billow

UK /ˈbɪloʊ/ US /ˈbɪloʊ/
verb 2noun 1name 1

Definitions

noun

1

A large wave, swell, surge, or undulating mass of something, such as water, smoke, fabric or sound

[…] Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll, / From the world's girdle to the frozen pole;

The snow fell hissing in the brine, / And the billows frothed like yeast.

verb

1

To surge or roll in billows.

During the preceding afternoon a heavy North Pacific fog had blown in … Scudding eastward from the ocean, it had crept up and over the redwood-studded crests of the Coast Range mountains, […], billowing steadily eastward, it had rolled up the western slopes of the Siskiyou Range, […]

The nuns' veils billowed and flapped behind the snaky line of girls as if the sisters were shooing the serpent from the Garden of Eden.

2

To swell out or bulge.

Her new green flowered-muslin dress spread its twelve yards of billowing material over her hoops and exactly matched the flat-heeled green morocco slippers her father had recently brought her from Atlanta.

She had changed her auburn hair. Instead of wearing it in a billowing puff over her brow, she had gathered it into a ponytail, secured with a length of yellow yarn.

name

1

A surname.

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