bough

[bou]

noun

1. a branch of a tree, especially one of the larger or main branches.

bough

/ baʊ /

noun

1. any of the main branches of a tree

Other Word Forms

• boughless adjective
• underbough noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bough¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English bogh, Old English bōg, bōh “shoulder, bough”; cognate with Old Norse bōgr, Dutch boeg, German Bug; akin to Greek pêchys, Sanskrit bāhu

Word History and Origins

Origin of bough¹

Old English bōg arm, twig; related to Old Norse bōgr shoulder, ship's bow, Old High German buog shoulder, Greek pēkhus forearm, Sanskrit bāhu ; see _bow ³, _elbow

Synonym Study

See branch.

Example Sentences

Mr. Ambar does not spare us the horrifying details of each brutal mob act: As Lincoln described one scene, “dead men were seen literally dangling from the boughs of trees” like “Spanish moss.”

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The ancient Lady Jane Grey Oak in Leicester's Bradgate Park, and a cedar with low-sweeping boughs where The Beatles were photographed at London's Chiswick House, completed the top five in the rankings.

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Dozens of animals rely on them to survive, from ladder-backed woodpeckers who nest in their trunks to desert night lizards who sleep and forage beneath their fallen boughs.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Desert night lizards sleep and forage beneath their fallen boughs.

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In a pleasant place, open yet sheltered by overhanging boughs, the hollow bole of a dead tree lay on the ground.

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Related Words

• sprig