Willow
['wɪləʊ] or ['wɪlo]
Definition
(noun.) a textile machine having a system of revolving spikes for opening and cleaning raw textile fibers.
(noun.) any of numerous deciduous trees and shrubs of the genus Salix.
Checked by Emma--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Salix, including many species, most of which are characterized often used as an emblem of sorrow, desolation, or desertion. "A wreath of willow to show my forsaken plight." Sir W. Scott. Hence, a lover forsaken by, or having lost, the person beloved, is said to wear the willow.
(n.) A machine in which cotton or wool is opened and cleansed by the action of long spikes projecting from a drum which revolves within a box studded with similar spikes; -- probably so called from having been originally a cylindrical cage made of willow rods, though some derive the term from winnow, as denoting the winnowing, or cleansing, action of the machine. Called also willy, twilly, twilly devil, and devil.
(v. t.) To open and cleanse, as cotton, flax, or wool, by means of a willow. See Willow, n., 2.
Inputed by Jarvis
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Osier.
Checked by Eli
Definition
n. any tree or shrub of the genus Salix having slender pliant branches: the wood of the willow: a cricket-bat.—v.t. to beat with willow rods as in cleaning cotton &c.—adj. Will′owed abounding with or containing willows.—n. Will′ow-herb a perennial herb (Epilobium) of the evening primrose family—also Rose-bay Bay-willow French or Persian willow.—adj. Will′owish like a willow slender and supple.—ns. Will′ow-machine′ a machine for extracting dirt from hemp cotton &c.—also Will′ow; Will′ow-moth a common British night-moth; Will′ow-war′bler -wren a small European sylviine bird; Will′ow-weed one of various species of Polygonum or knot-weed: the purple loose-strife.—adj. Will′owy abounding in willows: flexible graceful.—n. Weep′ing-will′ow a very ornamental species a native of the East much planted in Britain on account of its beautiful pendent twigs.—Bedford willow a species whose bark is especially rich in salicin and in tannin; White or Huntingdon willow the largest of British species reaching a height of eighty feet.
Typed by Gordon
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of willows, foretells that you will soon make a sad journey, but you will be consoled in your grief by faithful friends.
Inputed by Harvey
Examples
- I hung to the willow branch and did not have strength to pull myself up but I knew I would not drown now. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Locksley returned almost instantly with a willow wand about six feet in length, perfectly straight, and rather thicker than a man's thumb. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Let your guards attend me, he said, if you please--I go but to cut a rod from the next willow-bush. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Oh, yes, answered I, as green as a willow leaf: and in extreme cases like yours I am apt to recommend a little gunpowder. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Luckily the punt drifted so that he could catch hold of a willow bough, and pull it to the island. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- They had sat down under the willow tree, and were looking at the pond, from their retreat on the island. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I could see twigs on the willow bush. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- They landed under a willow tree. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The teapot, the old stocking-foot, the linen rag, the willow-pattern tureen will yield up their barren deposit in many a house. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- She stopped, withdrawing a little behind a willow, and studied his appearance. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- He has taken to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his nervous system is shattered. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- The way to the shore descended from the bank on which the house was perched to a walk above the water planted with weeping willows. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- As I walked down to the lake, I saw that the ground on its farther side was damp and marshy, overgrown with rank grass and dismal willows. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Then I crawled out, pushed on through the willows and onto the bank. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
Checked by Carlton