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billowing

[bil-oh]

Example Sentences Origin

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.

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Billowing is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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verb (used with object)

to make rise, surge, swell, or the like: A sudden wind billowed the tent alarmingly.

Origin:
1545–55; < Old Norse bylgja wave, cognate with Middle Low German bulge; akin to Old English gebylgan to anger, provoke

Related forms

un·der·bil·low, verb (used without object)

Synonyms
1. swell, breaker, crest, roller, whitecap.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To billowing

Example Sentences

Man stands on this diminutive earth, gazes at the myriad stars and upon billowing oceans and tossing trees--and wonders.

Riley was about to order the sails lowered when he saw foam billowing on the lee side of the brig.

Exotic, since my father was a farmer and fox hunter and a black billowing cape was not something that hung in our coat closet.

EXPAND

Man stands on this diminutive earth, gazes at the myriad stars and upon billowing oceans and tossing trees--and wonders.

Riley was about to order the sails lowered when he saw foam billowing on the lee side of the brig.

Exotic, since my father was a farmer and fox hunter and a black billowing cape was not something that hung in our coat closet.

Nearby, a stack of giant round metal baskets sits atop billowing jets of steam.

The crater lake erupted into billowing clouds of ash and steam with little warning.

IT had all the trappings of a low-rider showdown: jacked-up sound systems, revving engines and billowing clouds of exhaust smoke.

Here, an underwater view captures the billowing tentacles of a lion's mane jellyfish.

The comfort of a warm bowl, the scent billowing from a savory sauce, and the toothsome bite of perfectly.

In the upper left of this photograph, faint billowing shapes can be seen in the outer regions of an elliptical galaxy.

The woman wears a feathered headdress and an elaborately decorated breastplate over a billowing tunic.

It hugged the ocean and dispersed instead of billowing.

There is some video of the eruptions, including footage of the ash fall and billowing plumes.

Ranged about the stage alone or in small groups, they seem to tether that open space as if it were the billowing folds of a tent.

He pokes at one meditatively, and then his top half disappears as he bends into the billowing soot.

She wears a white gown with a billowing skirt and gazes slightly.

Soon five more coins emerged from beneath the billowing sand.

With columns of poetic fog billowing through its iconic.

These billowing trousers under a simple top and a tight denim mini are mash-up worthy of a fashion hermaphrodite.

Most of those who drifted down the red carpet wore enough silk and billowing tulle to keep an armada.

Munn was best known for her feminine designs, which featured billowing skirts and slim waists and used lace, sequins and ribbon.

Yousef and a co-defendant after neighbors reported smoke billowing from it.

With her long black veil billowing behind her, she is not hard to find.

Ball gowns with billowing skirts had tops as sheer as stockings decorated with a few strategically placed jewels.

The steam billowing up around the manhole cover in the street is a dead giveaway.

It was hazy, already sweltering and the billowing emission from a steampipe swirled depressingly.

In one home, he suspended billowing silk on steel rods for a room-encircling wall treatment.

Models saunter around her screen, skirts swinging, chiffon billowing.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

billow (ˈbɪləʊ)

—n
1.	a large sea wave
2.	a swelling or surging mass, as of smoke or sound
3.	a large atmospheric wave, usually in the lee of a hill
4.	poetic (plural) the sea itself

—vb
5.	to rise up, swell out, or cause to rise up or swell out

[C16: from Old Norse bylgja; related to Swedish bōlja, Danish bölg, Middle High German bulge; see bellow, belly]

'billowing

—*adj*, —n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

billow

1550s, perhaps older in dialectal use, from O.N. bylgja "a wave," from P.Gmc. *bulgjan (cf. M.H.G. bulge "billow, bag"), from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell" (see belly). Related: Billowing; billowy.

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