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.
Also called birne. a cylindrical lump of material for synthetic gems, made by the Verneuil process.
a metal ball, usually made out of steel, used in pétanque.
Sometimes boules. pétanque.
the legislative assembly of modern Greece.
(sometimes lowercase) a state legislative, advisory, or administrative council in ancient Greece.
the parliament in modern Greece
the senate of an ancient Greek city-state
First recorded in 1915–20; from French: literally, “a ball”; see origin at bowl 2
1840–50; < Greek: a council, body of chosen ones
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The word has a common origin with Isl. ballaðr, Fr. boulet, Sc. boule, in Doug.
From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown
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, he said, had other ways to address his concerns about the agent’s conduct and noted that he had filed a complaint that led to a year-long internal investigation.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022
But no agency found Boule did anything wrong.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
On March 14, 2014, after Mr. Boule reported on a Turkish man arriving from New York, Border Patrol Agent Erik Egbert showed up to investigate.
From Washington 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
