billow
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
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to rise or roll in or like billows; surge.
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to swell out, puff up, etc., as by the action of wind.
flags billowing in the breeze.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a large sea wave
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a swelling or surging mass, as of smoke or sound
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a large atmospheric wave, usually in the lee of a hill
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poetic (plural) the sea itself
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have billowedperfect
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has billowedperfect 3rd person singular
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has been billowingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are billowingprogressive
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have been billowingperfect progressive
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is billowingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am billowingprogressive 1st person singular
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billowssingular 3rd person
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billowingparticiple
Past
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had billowedperfect
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were billowingprogressive plural
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was billowingprogressive singular
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had been billowingperfect progressive
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billowedparticiple
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billowedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of billow
First recorded in 1545–55; from Old Norse bylgja “wave,” cognate with Middle Low German bulge; akin to Old English gebylgan “to anger, provoke”
Explanation
Something billows when there's a fluid or blowing motion, such as the air filling a curtain at an open window, or smoke billowing from a fire. This word originally meant a wave, and that image should help you remember its current meaning too. The word usually suggests movement and growth, such as waves building and crashing. There are certain clouds that look like ocean waves, and so are called billow clouds. If you have a big shirt, the wind might make it fill with air and billow. Balloons are billowed when you inflate them. Billowing can also mean to move with difficulty — slowly.
Vocabulary lists containing billow
The Diary of Anne Frank
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List 6
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The One and Only Ivan
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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.
The region's oil export terminals have been hit several times in recent weeks, triggering massive fires that billow plumes of toxic black smoke into the atmosphere.
From Barron's • May 3, 2026
There’s nothing like watching as clouds billow over Doi Suthep, the mountain overlooking Chiang Mai, before gushing onto the city’s durian- and diesel-fumed streets.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I was in northern New Jersey, and watched the smoke billow from the World Trade Center.
From Slate • Oct. 29, 2025
When the winds got especially fierce, like they did last week, smoke would billow back down the chimney and fill the living room.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 12, 2025
The light is fading now and gray clouds billow over the mountains we crossed earlier.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
