billow
billow Lexical Profile
billow Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To fill with air and swell outward (especially of fabric, sails, or garments).
"The linen curtains billowed inward as a cool evening breeze swept through the open window."
To rise, roll, or move outward in large undulating masses (especially of smoke, clouds, or mist).
"Thick gray smoke billowed from the chimney of the old stone cottage."
• noun
A large, undulating mass of something, typically cloud, smoke, or steam.
"Great billows of white steam rose from the locomotive as it pulled into the station."
A large, rolling wave or swell of water in the sea.
"The wooden schooner pitched and rolled across the foaming billows of the North Atlantic."
• Rhymes for billow
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-16th century from Old Norse bylgja ('a wave, swell'), which stems from a Proto-Germanic root meaning 'to swell' (shared with the English word 'bulge').