bough

American  

[bou] / baʊ /

noun

• boughs
  plural

1. a branch of a tree, especially one of the larger or main branches.

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bough British  

/ baʊ /

noun

1. any of the main branches of a tree

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Synonym Usage

See branch.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underbough
  noun
• boughless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• boughs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bough

First recorded before 1000; Middle English bogh, Old English bōg, bōh “shoulder, bough”; cognate with Old Norse bōgr, Dutch boeg, German Bug; akin to Greek pêchys, Sanskrit bāhu

Explanation

A bough is a large branch from a tree. You know: “When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall...” A “lullaby” about a baby careening to the ground from a broken branch? (Nice.) The original “Hush-a-bye” rhyme, some scholars say, was modified in America to reflect pilgrim children’s observations of Native American mothers hanging cradles from tree branches so that the wind would rock their babies to sleep. Why do poets use bough when branch and limb mean the same thing? Well, maybe because more words rhyme with bough than with those others. Also, “holly boughs” and “blossomy boughs” sound much more musical than “branches.” What rhymes with branches? Cattle ranches?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bough boughs

Sometimes seven-year-old Bayas would stand on a slender bough and lean out until it bent under his bulk, then ride it to a neighboring trunk.

From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024

“I see a ‘No Trespassing’ sign, I don’t do it,” she explains, recalling how her wife might pick fruit off a neighbor’s tree if the bough hangs over the fence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2023

Instead of cutting down and burying this rotten bough, Bilger decided to climb to it, build a sturdy perch, have a long look around and report his findings in a new memoir, “Fatherland.”

From New York Times ● May 14, 2023

There wasn't a single twinkling light or even a scrap of a pine bough, all the way from the subway station to her building.

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2022

First he must find in the forest a golden bough growing on a tree, which he must break off and take with him.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

At last, we found it: a sturdy Douglas fir with boughs that had pleasant symmetry and enough firmness to carry ornaments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025

The ancient Lady Jane Grey Oak in Leicester's Bradgate Park, and a cedar with low-sweeping boughs where The Beatles were photographed at London's Chiswick House, completed the top five in the rankings.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025

They were London planetrees, and no birds flitted in their boughs.

From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2024

In outdoor pots, red dogwood stems and evergreen boughs bring structure, while violas, pansies and ornamental kale add unflinching color, shrugging off light frosts.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2023

And there was life everywhere—zumming insects, squirrels scampering along boughs, birds twittering and hopping about, spider webs gleaming silver in the sun.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Related Words

• sprig