billow

²billow

verb

Definition of BILLOW

intransitive verb

1

: to rise or roll in waves or surges

2

: to bulge or swell out (as through action of the wind)

transitive verb

: to cause to billow

Examples of BILLOW

1. <the curtains in the open windows billowed in the summer wind>

First Known Use of BILLOW

1585

Related to BILLOW

Synonyms: bag, balloon, beetle, belly, bulge, bunch, jut, overhang, poke, pooch [chiefly dialect], pouch, pout, project, protrude, stand out, start, stick out, swell

Related Words: dome; blow up, inflate; dilate, distend, expand; mushroom, snowball; elongate, extend, lengthen, stretch

Near Antonyms: compress, condense, constrict, contract, shrink

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Rhymes with BILLOW

pillow