Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Billow |
BillowNoun1. A large sea wave. Verb1. Billow forth; as of smoke or waves. 2. Move with great difficulty; "The soldiers billowed across the muddy riverbed". 3. Rise and move, as in waves or billows; "The army surged forward". 4. Become inflated; "The sails ballooned". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "billow" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | A wave whose front becomes so steep that the wave crest tumbles over in the direction of travel, producing turbulent water and foam. They represent a particular hazard to small vessels. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: BillowSynonyms: balloon (v), heave (v), inflate (v), surge (v), wallow (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
River | Wave, billow, surge, swell, ripple; |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Billow |
| English words defined with "billow": Billowed ♦ cloud ♦ Decuman ♦ Upridged ♦ wallow. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "billow": Euroclydon. (references) |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Fantasies billow by shy lesbian fantasies ... Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Billow" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 41.18% of the time. "Billow" is used about 17 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 41.18% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Noun (singular) | 41.18% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 17.65% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 17 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "billow" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Billow | Last name | 130 | 65,604 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expression using "billow": billow out. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
billow | 12 |
billow electric | 12 |
billow blue hydrangea | 5 |
beach billow lous | 4 |
billow boston | 2 |
billow house | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "billow"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | tallaz (wave), deti (blue, drink, pelagian, salt, saltwater), dallgëzohet. (various references) | |
Arabic | كتلة من سحاب, موجة عظيمة, موجة (oscillation, sea, surge, swell, undulation, vibration, wave), متدحرج مثل الموج, تلاطم كالموج, إنتفخ (bag, balloon, belly, bloat, bulge, distend, fill, fluff, heave, inflate, puff, strut, swell). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | грамадна морска вълна, въздигам се на вълни, вал (axle, roller, shaft, spindle, tree). (various references) | |
Chinese | 巨浪, 大浪 (surge). (various references) | |
Czech | mořská vlna. (various references) | |
Danish | styrtsø (breaking sea, breaking wave). (various references) | |
Dutch | golfslag. (various references) | |
Esperanto | ondego. (various references) | |
Farsi | موج زدن(ازاب یاجمعیت یاابر), موج بزرگ اب , خیزاب (Wave), بصورت موج درامدن . (various references) | |
Finnish | tyrsky (surf, surge), lainehtia (undulate), laine (wave), aalto (fluid, liquid, roller, wave). (various references) | |
French | vague déferlante, tournoyer, se gonfler (billow out), onduler, les flots, grosse vague, déferlante. (various references) | |
German | woge (swell, wave), Welle (Arbor, axle, circle, craze, kink, light wave, ridge, shaft, spindle, stem, warp, wave, wavelength), sich blähen (belly, distend, flare, to billow). (various references) | |
Greek | κύματα, κύμα που σπάει πάνω στο πλοίο (breaking sea, breaking wave), κινούμαι κυματοειδώσ, κινούμαι κυματοειδώς, μεγάλο κύμα (breaker), φουσκώνω (bloat, blow up, bulge, distend, expand, fill out, inflate, puff, pump, pump up, surge, swell), θραυόμενο κύμα (breaking sea, breaking wave). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ל"תמר (curl up, go up, rise), "כי "ים (surf, surging waves), חשול (breaker, gale, storm, surf, surge, torrent, wave). (various references) | |
Hungarian | nagy hullám (breaker, roller, surge). (various references) | |
Indonesian | ombak, mengelembung. (various references) | |
Italian | frangente (awkward situation, beachcomber, breaker), flutto (wave), cavallone (roller). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 巨波 (large wave), 大波 (surge). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おおなみ (surge), きょは (large wave). (various references) | |
Manx | tonnaghtyn (surge), lhieeney (blow up, charge, charge as battery, cover in, fill, fill in, fill out, flood tide, flow, fuel, inset, load, make, make of tide, pad, rise, saturate, spasm, wax, wax as moon), booghey (bulge). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | illowbay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | vaga rebentando (breaking sea, breaking wave), vaga (sea, space available, surge, vacancy, water-wave), ondear (goffer, undulate, wave), onda (curl, jaw, sea, surge, water-wave, wave), oceano (brine, main, ocean, sea, water-wave), mar de rolo (breaking sea, breaking wave), mar (blue, brine, deep, ocean, sea, water-wave), levantar (boost, bring up, build, carry up, elevate, erect, hale, hoist, hoist up, hold up, jack, lift, mount, pitch, provoke, pull up, put up, raise, rear, rough, rouse, set up, up, upbear, upheave, uplift, upraise), crescer (accrue, bulk, come up, develop, explode, grow, grow up, increase, lengthen, swell, thrive, vegetate, wax). (various references) | |
Romanian | val mare (surge), talaz (breaker, sea, surge, wave), se umfla (bag, balloon, belly out, bloat out, bulge, bulk, distend, fill out, flow, ridge, swell), se agita (agitate, bustle, ferment, fluster, flutter, fret, fuss, hitch, rustle, seethe, squirm, toss, tumble, vibrate, wag). (various references) | |
Russian | вздыматься волнами, вздыматься (heave, surge, surged, surging), вал (arbour, bank, barrel, bulwark, rampart, roller, shaft, spindle, tree, wall), большая волна (surge, water-wave). (various references) | |
Scottish | tonn (a wave, surge, wave), stuadh (a wave). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | talasati se (ruffle, undulate, welter), talas veliki. (various references) | |
Spanish | oleaje (surf, surge), oleada (surge, wave). (various references) | |
Swedish | bölja (surge, undulate, wave). (various references) | |
Turkish | rüzgârla şişmek (billow out, swell), dev dalga (breaker, surge), dalgalar halinde yükselmek, dalgalar halinde yükselen şey, dalga dalga kabarmak. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | велика хвиля (surge), вал (axle, bank, bulwark, cam, water-wave, wave), здійматися (crest, heave, rise, rise above, swell, tower, wallow), лавина (avalanche, deluge). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sóng to, sự cu"n cuộn (popple). (various references) | |
Welsh | tonni (undulate, wave), ton (breaker, lay-land, skin, surface, wave), moryn (breaker), gwaneg (wave). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | fluctibus, fluctui, fluctum, fluctus, fluctuum, sala, salamina, sale, salis, salo, salom, salomone, unda. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "billow": billowed, billowier, billowiest, billowing, billows, billowy. (additional references) | |
| |
"Billow" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ballou, Bellew, belloa, Bilboa, Bilbow, bilio, Billah, billo, billyo, bilo, bilob, Bilou, bilow, biolo, Bollom, bollow, bolow, Bullow, Gidlow. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "billow" (pronounced bi"lō) |
| 3 | -i" l ō | armadillo, Caudillo, pillow. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-i-l-l-o-w" | |
-2 letters: bill, blow, boil, boll, bowl, will. | |
-3 letters: bio, bow, ill, lib, lob, low, obi, oil, owl. | |
-4 letters: bi, bo, li, lo, ow, wo. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-i-l-l-o-w" | |
+1 letter: billows, billowy. | |
+2 letters: billowed, blowsily, blowzily, bowllike. | |
+3 letters: bellowing, billowier, billowing, blowflies, bowelling. | |
+4 letters: billowiest, flyblowing, lowballing, sowbellies. | |
+5 letters: disbowelled, embowelling, snowballing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Names: Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
