boulder
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
-
a smooth rounded mass of rock that has a diameter greater than 25cm and that has been shaped by erosion and transported by ice or water from its original position
-
geology a rock fragment with a diameter greater than 256 mm and thus bigger than a cobble
Other Word Forms
- bouldered adjective
- bouldery adjective
Etymology
Origin of boulder
1610–20; short for boulder stone; Middle English bulderston < Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish bullersten big stone (in a stream), equivalent to buller rumbling noise (< Old Swedish bulder ) + sten stone
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He's perched on a boulder under a warm spring sun.
From BBC
In the tests, the team dropped marbles into sand that contained scattered pieces of painted gravel representing boulders on Dimorphos.
From Science Daily
It is a twenty-mile downhill run through a river gorge studded with boulders and you run on an ice ledge steeply down, weaving in and out of the boulders for the whole distance.
From Literature
We were in a draw with boulders on both sides of the trail.
From Literature
“I would climb mountains and traverse dangerous cliff paths. I would poke my head into dark caves and push over heavy boulders.”
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
