Jump To:

• boll
  boll

  noun

  a rounded seed vessel or pod of a plant, as of flax or cotton.
• Böll
  Böll

  noun

  Heinrich (Theodor) 1917–85, German novelist and short-story writer: Nobel Prize 1972.

boll

¹ American  

[bohl] / boʊl /

noun

Botany.

• bolls
  plural

1. a rounded seed vessel or pod of a plant, as of flax or cotton.

---

Böll ² American  

[bœl] / bœl /

noun

1. Heinrich (Theodor) 1917–85, German novelist and short-story writer: Nobel Prize 1972.

---

boll ¹ British  

/ bəʊl /

noun

1. the fruit of such plants as flax and cotton, consisting of a rounded capsule containing the seeds

---

Böll ² British  

/ bœl /

noun

1. Heinrich (ˈhaɪnrɪç) ( Theodor ). 1917–85, German novelist and short-story writer; his novels include Group Portrait with Lady (1971): Nobel prize for literature 1972

---

boll Scientific  

/ bōl /

1. The seed-bearing capsule of certain plants, especially cotton and flax.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bolls
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of boll

1400–50; late Middle English bolle, perhaps < Middle Dutch bolle ( Dutch bol ), though formally identical with bowl ¹

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

boll Böll bolls

With the boll weevil finishing off King Cotton, paper producers’ “plant ’em thick, cut ’em quick” approach spread.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

They have to make sure there is nowhere for the boll weevil to live until cotton is planted again in late March.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2022

So the migration is as much about work and the boll weevil as it is about this notion of opportunity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2022

We assume he wove it himself out of whatever cotton-esque plants are flourishing after he killed exactly one-half the boll weevils on his planet of refuge.

From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2019

And I said, “Can’t afford no air-conditioning. Them things eat current like a boll weevil on cotton.”

From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

The second story, “The Long and Painful Death,” chronicles a female writer whose residency at the home of Heinrich Böll is soured by the arrival of a male academic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2023

The Green Party's foundation, named after Nobel Prize-winning German novelist Heinrich Böll, is in more than 30 countries.

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2021

Research for this article was made possible with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 28, 2018

“It’s not just a technical shift. It’s a societal shift,” said Rebecca Bertram, an energy expert with the Greens party-aligned Heinrich Böll Foundation.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2017

Almost five years later, Germans have undergone “a brutal sobering up” with regard to Mr. Obama, said Ralf Fücks, who heads the board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, a nonprofit political organization in Berlin.

From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2013

One particularly intricate 36-inch Della Robbia-style wreath at the Roscow Cole House has Osage oranges, pomegranates, lady apples and cotton bolls.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2017

Her child cried, and it distracted her, slowed the accumulation of cotton bolls in her sack.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 28, 2017

An estimated $150 million worth of cotton has been lost as the storms ripped the bolls off plants and left white fiber strewn across fields.

From Reuters ● Aug. 29, 2017

Cotton picking occurred as many as seven times a season as the plant grew and continued to produce bolls through the fall and early winter.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014

If he prophesied that the cotton in today’s field was going to be sparse and stick to the bolls like glue, every listener would grunt a hearty agreement.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---