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• boule
  boule

  noun

  a round loaf of bread, usually with a crisp or chewy crust.
• Boule
  Boule

  noun

  the legislative assembly of modern Greece.

boule

¹ American  

[bool] / bul /

noun

1. a round loaf of bread, usually with a crisp or chewy crust.

   Divide the dough into two portions, shape into batards or boules, and place in the refrigerator to rise overnight.

2. Also called birne. a cylindrical lump of material for synthetic gems, made by the Verneuil process.

3. a metal ball, usually made out of steel, used in pétanque.

4. Sometimes boules. pétanque.

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boule ² American  

[bool] / bul /

noun

(often initial capital letter)

1. buhl.

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Boule ³ American  

[boo-lee, boo-lay] / ˈbu li, buˈleɪ /

noun

1. the legislative assembly of modern Greece.

2. (sometimes lowercase) a state legislative, advisory, or administrative council in ancient Greece.

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boule ¹ British  

/ ˈbuːliː /

noun

1. the parliament in modern Greece

2. the senate of an ancient Greek city-state

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boule ² British  

/ buːl /

noun

1. a pear-shaped imitation ruby, sapphire, etc, made from synthetic corundum

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boule ³ British  

/ buːl /

noun

1. a round loaf of white bread

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Etymology

Origin of boule¹

First recorded in 1915–20; from French: literally, “a ball”; see origin at bowl ²

Origin of Boule³

1840–50; < Greek: a council, body of chosen ones

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

boule Boule

The display also featured Dahl's personal set of boules, along with his own invention of a magnet on a string, which Dahl used for picking up each boule.

From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2025

Creative director Ian Griffiths’ mood board included silken teddies, Belle Epoque’-inspired boule coats and photos of the French novelist Colette, whose spare style, the British designer said, inspired the collection’s simplicity.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2024

I often get asked whether a pan loaf recipe can be baked without the pan altogether: Can the dough simply be formed like a round boule or oblong batard and baked on a baking surface?

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2021

Two teams comprised of a mix of islanders and visitors compete to see which can throw a boule around the distance of the island’s only road in the fewest possible throws.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 21, 2019

Dat chien boule dog, I was tole you 'bout,   I am not understan' w'at good she's for, Eat 'Poleon's leg w'it hees teet' an' mout,   'Poleon he is feel very mad—by Gor!

From The Habitant and Other French-Canadian Poems by William Henry Drummond

Harris addressed Trump’s attacks from where she was speaking on Wednesday — the historically African American sorority Sigma Gamma Rho’s 60th International Biennial Boule.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2024

Boule “materially indistinguishable from those in Bivens”: Both involved a U.S. citizen on his own property allegedly roughed up by a federal officer or officers without a warrant.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 27, 2022

The case was brought in 2017 by Robert Boule, who owned the Smuggler’s Inn, a bed-and-breakfast located in Washington state along the Canadian border.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022

But no agency found Boule did anything wrong.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 8, 2022

The decisions of the assembly were enacted by an executive body called the Boule, or council of five hundred, which contained the closest thing ancient Athens had to members of congress.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith