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boulder

or bowl·der

[ bohl-der ]
/ ˈboʊl dər /
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noun
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) + stenstone

OTHER WORDS FROM boulder

bouldered, adjectiveboul·der·y, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH boulder

1. bolder, boulder 2. boulder , cobblestone, granule, pebble, rock, stone

Other definitions for boulder (2 of 2)

Boulder
[ bohl-der ]
/ ˈboʊl dər /

noun
a city in N Colorado.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use boulder in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for boulder

boulder
/ (ˈbəʊldə) /

noun
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

Derived forms of boulder

bouldery, adjective

Word Origin for boulder

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
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