billow
noun
a great wave or surge of the sea.
were billowing
-
past progressiveof billow.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Emergency services were called to Ormiston Cliff Park Primary Academy in Gorleston, Norfolk, where flames and black smoke were billowing from the building.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2025
Tseng told them it would look as if it were billowing in the wind, but the flag just looks abused, and the men in front of it appear puffed with vainglory.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 23, 2019
Soon curtains of black smoke were billowing out of the one-story house, obscuring the peeling red paint and overgrown blackberry vines.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 9, 2017
On my commute to work three days ago, I sat seething in a commercial bus as it crawled slowly behind a degenerating rapid transit bus whose exhaust pipes were billowing black dense clouds of smoke.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 13, 2017
All around it, smoke was hovering wispily off the ground, and just behind it, great volumes of smoke were billowing from the earth over a large area.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
