billow
[bil-oh]
- a great wave or surge of the sea.
- any surging mass: billows of smoke.
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- 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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- to make rise, surge, swell, or the like: A sudden wind billowed the tent alarmingly.
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Origin of billow
1545–55; < Old Norse bylgja wave, cognate with Middle Low German bulge; akin to Old English gebylgan to anger, provoke
Synonyms
See more synonyms for billow on Thesaurus.com1. swell, breaker, crest, roller, whitecap.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for billowing
Contemporary Examples
Fleeing residents screamed and moments later an ambulance sped toward the billowing smoke.
Palestinians Fleeing Israeli Bombardment in Gaza Have ‘Nowhere Left to Run’Jesse Rosenfeld
July 20, 2014
There was a sense of ease in the loose white shirt-dresses, billowing skirts, and roomy pajama pants.
There were no billowing sheets or dramatic scores to lead them through it.
The Sex Scenes in ‘The Spectacular Now’ Are Awkward, Honest, and All Too RealAnna Klassen
August 2, 2013
The air all around them was filled with a storm of leaves, billowing and drifting and soaring in the gusts.
Wearing dashikis, yukatas, and flannel robes—any kind of billowing uni-garment will do the trick.
Historical Examples
He could see it more clearly now, billowing upward in grim portent.
The Vagrant DukeGeorge Gibbs
"You said it, Donny-boy," said the misty man by the billowing curtains.
Death of a SpacemanWalter M. Miller
It was as if a sea in unmeasured storm were billowing nearer and nearer.
Despair's Last JourneyDavid Christie Murray
No, it is no gull, it is the wonder-ship flying along with billowing sails.
The Crimson Fairy BookVarious
The slope above them was almost covered by the billowing spheres.
The People of the Black CircleRobert E. Howard
billow
- a large sea wave
- a swelling or surging mass, as of smoke or sound
- a large atmospheric wave, usually in the lee of a hill
- (plural) poetic the sea itself
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- to rise up, swell out, or cause to rise up or swell out
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Word Origin
C16: from Old Norse bylgja; related to Swedish bōlja, Danish bölg, Middle High German bulge; see bellow, belly
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for billowing
billow
n.
1550s, perhaps older in dialectal use, from Old Norse bylgja "a wave, a billow," from Proto-Germanic *bulgjan (cf. Middle High German bulge "billow, bag"), from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell" (see belly (n.)).
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billow
v.
1590s, from billow (n.). Related: Billowed; billowing.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper