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billow
[ bil-oh ]
noun
- a great wave or surge of the sea.
- any surging mass:
billows of smoke.
verb (used without object)
- to rise or roll in or like billows; surge.
- to swell out, puff up, etc., as by the action of wind:
flags billowing in the breeze.
verb (used with object)
- to make rise, surge, swell, or the like:
A sudden wind billowed the tent alarmingly.
billow
/ ˈbɪləʊ /
noun
- a large sea wave
- a swelling or surging mass, as of smoke or sound
- a large atmospheric wave, usually in the lee of a hill
- poetic.plural the sea itself
verb
- to rise up, swell out, or cause to rise up or swell out
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Derived Forms
- ˈbillowing, adjectivenoun
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Other Words From
- under·billow verb (used without object)
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Word History and Origins
Origin of billow1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of billow1
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Example Sentences
A plume of gray smoke billows into the air and Lyoya immediately goes still.
The helicopters kicked up huge plumes of powder that had fallen Monday night, and the aircraft quickly disappeared in a billow of snow.
Then, the trooper drives into her car — and it crashes upside down in a billow of smoke.
Ladder 118 looks small on the Brooklyn Bridge; in the foreground both towers billow soot.
The wave—a billow broken to atoms, yet still retaining all its weight and motive force—overwhelmed the boat and passed on.
Like the surging of an ocean billow, it seemed to sweep over her; and then suddenly she screamed, and sank back upon the pillow.
Death rode those cold waters, and every billow was a yawning grave.
It came up like a sonorous billow, swelling as it advanced, and becoming more and more distinct.
The schooner washed her nose in a curving billow that came inboard and swept aft.
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