bole

[bohl]

noun Botany.

the stem or trunk of a tree.

Origin of bole

1275–1325; Middle English < Old Norse bolr trunk (of a tree), torso; see bulwark

bole

[bohl]

noun

any of a variety of soft, unctuous clays of various colors, used as pigments.
a medium red-brown color made from such clay.

Also bolus.

Origin of bole

1350–1400; Middle English bol < Late Latin bōlus lump; see bolus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for boles

chunk, wood, piece, timber, stalk, stem, torso, mud, brick, earth, length, stick, trunk, block, bole, driftwood, log, column, butt, stock

Examples from the Web for boles

Contemporary Examples of boles

"A lot of the photos were taken at a club called The Colony," Boles explained.
Private Birthday Party: A Look at Kansas City’s Long Lost Drag Queens
Erin Cunningham
April 9, 2014

Historical Examples of boles

There was the dim bulk of a man disappearing through the boles.
David Elginbrod
George MacDonald
The forest was full of the boles of trees that had been blown down.
An American Robinson Crusoe
Samuel. B. Allison
They were watching the tragic chase between the boles of the pines.
Master Reynard
Jane Fielding
Twenty years tell not on boles that have for centuries been in their prime.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 404, June, 1849
Various
The grass is as uniform as a carpet, and grows quite up to the boles of the trees.
Riverby
John Burroughs

British Dictionary definitions for boles

bole

noun

the trunk of a tree

Word Origin for bole

C14: from Old Norse bolr; related to Middle High German bole plank

bole

bolus

noun

a reddish soft variety of clay used as a pigment
a moderate reddish-brown colour

Word Origin for bole

C13: from Late Latin bōlus lump, from Greek bōlos

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 boles

bole

early 14c., from Old Norse bolr "tree trunk," from Proto-Germanic *bulas (cf. Middle Dutch bolle "trunk of a tree"), from PIE *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (cf. Greek phyllon "leaf," phallos "swollen penis;" Latin flos "flower," florere "to blossom, flourish," folium "leaf;" Old Prussian balsinis "cushion;" Old Norse belgr "bag, bellows;" Old English bolla "pot, cup, bowl;" Old Irish bolgaim "I swell," blath "blossom, flower," bolach "pimple," bolg "bag;" Breton bolc'h "flax pod;" Serbian buljiti "to stare, be bug-eyed;" Serbo-Croatian blazina "pillow").