boulder
or bowl·der
[bohl-der]
- a detached and rounded or worn rock, especially a large one.
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Origin of boulder
1610–20; short for boulder stone; Middle English bulderston < Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish bullersten big stone (in a stream), equivalent to buller rumbling noise (< Old Swedish bulder) + sten stone
Boulder
[bohl-der]
- a city in N Colorado.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for boulder
Contemporary Examples
[Tatum laughs] Like I found the three other artsy goth kids at Boulder and hung out with them.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill on ‘22 Jump Street,’ Penis Kissing, and Julie Andrews’s BoobsKevin Fallon
June 10, 2014
I did one semester at Boulder, which was more a stereotypical, American collegiate experience.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill on ‘22 Jump Street,’ Penis Kissing, and Julie Andrews’s BoobsKevin Fallon
June 10, 2014
But even at Boulder I found the artsy kids and hung out with them.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill on ‘22 Jump Street,’ Penis Kissing, and Julie Andrews’s BoobsKevin Fallon
June 10, 2014
Boulder was attractive because "it's beautiful and peaceful and people are nice—the opposite of New York—and my mother's there."
Talia Eisenberg is a self-described former New York “party girl” who moved to Boulder Colorado to get healthy.
Historical Examples
We dropped behind a boulder and Tse-tse counted while I lifted every scent.
The Trail BookMary Austin
Linda rushed to the boulder and knelt again, but she could get no response to her questions.
Her Father's DaughterGene Stratton-Porter
He stooped; seized a boulder, hurled it at the oncoming Lee.
The World BeyondRaymond King Cummings
He was behind a boulder, not too dissimilar to Calhoun's breastwork.
Pariah PlanetMurray Leinster
The girl stumbled, struck her head against a boulder, and lay still.
Loot of the VoidEdwin K. Sloat
boulder
- a smooth rounded mass of rock that has a diameter greater than 25cm and that has been shaped by erosion and transported by ice or water from its original position
- geology a rock fragment with a diameter greater than 256 mm and thus bigger than a cobble
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Word Origin
C13: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Swedish dialect bullersten, from Old Swedish bulder rumbling + sten stone
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 boulder
n.
1670s, variant of Middle English bulder (c.1300), from a Scandinavian source akin to Swedish dialectal bullersten "noisy stone" (large stone in a stream, causing water to roar around it), from bullra "to roar" + sten "stone." Or the first element might be from *buller- "round object," from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE *bhel- (2) "to inflate, swell" (see bole).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper