willow

See also: Willow

English

A weeping willow, a commonly seen willow cultivar.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪl.əʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɪləʊ
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪloʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪloʊ

Etymology

From Middle English wilwe, welew, variant of wilghe, from Old English weliġ, from Proto-Germanic *wiligaz (compare West Frisian wylch, Dutch wilg), from Proto-Indo-European *wel-ik- (compare (Arcadian) Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), Hittite 𒌑𒂖𒆪 (welku, “grass”)), from *wel- (“twist, turn”).

Noun

willow (countable and uncountable, plural willows)

1. Any of various deciduous trees or shrubs in the genus Salix, in the willow family Salicaceae, found primarily on moist soils in cooler zones in the northern hemisphere.
   • 1912, Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage, Chapter 8

     […] and through the middle of this forest, from wall to wall, ran a winding line of brilliant green which marked the course of cottonwoods and willows.

2. (cricket, colloquial) A cricket bat.
3. (baseball, slang, 1800s) The baseball bat.
4. A rotating spiked drum used to open and clean cotton heads.

Synonyms

• withy

Derived terms

• Red Willow County
• Red Willow Creek
• weeping willow
• willow in the wind

Translations

tree

• Abkhaz: аԥслыш (āpsləš)
• Albanian: shelg (sq) m
• Arabic: صَفْصَاف‎ m (ṣafṣāf)
• Armenian: ուռենի (hy) (uṙeni)
• Aromanian: saltsi f, saltse f
• Asturian: salce m, salgueru m
• Azeri: söyüd (az)
• Baluchi: please add this translation if you can
• Bashkir: тал (tal)
• Basque: sahats
• Belarusian: вярба f (vjarba)
• Bulgarian: върба f (vǎrba)
• Burmese: မိုးမခ (my) (mui:ma.hka.)
• Catalan: salze
• Chechen: дак (dak)
• Cherokee: ᏕᎴᎦᎵᏍ (delegalis), ᏗᎵᎦᎵᏍᎩ (diligalisgi)
• Cheyenne: ménó'ke
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 柳 (zh) (liǔ), 柳樹 (zh), 柳树 (zh) (liǔshù)

• Cornish: helygen f
• Czech: vrba (cs) f
• Danish: pil c, piletræ n
• Dutch: wilg (nl) m
• Erzya: каль (kalʹ)
• Esperanto: saliko
• Estonian: paju, remmelgas (et)
• Faroese: pílur m
• Finnish: paju (fi)
• French: saule (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: wylch

• Friulian: venčhâr, molec
• Galician: salgueiro (gl)
• Georgian: ტირიფი (ka) (ṭiripi)
• German: Weide (de) f
• Greek: ιτιά (el) f (itiá)
• Hawaiian: wīlou
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} עֲרָבָה‎ (he) f (arava)
• Hungarian: fűzfa (hu)
• Icelandic: víðir (is) m
• Ido: saliko (io)
• Indonesian: dedalu (id)
• Interlingua: salice
• Interlingue: salice
• Irish: saileach f, sail (ga) f, saileog f
• Italian: salice (it) m
• Japanese: 柳 (ja) (ヤナギ, yanagi)
• Kazakh: кызыл тал (kızıl tal)
• Khmer: ដើមសូល (daəm sool)
• Komi-Zyrian: бадь (badʹ)

• Korean: 버들 (ko) (beodeul), 버드나무 (ko) (beodeunamu)
• Kurdish: bî (ku)
• Latgalian: veituls m
• Latin: salix f
• Latvian: vītols
• Lithuanian: gluosnis
• Low German: Wied f
• Macedonian: врба (vrba)
• Manchu: ᡶᠣᡩᠣᡥᠣ (fodoho)
• Mansi: тып (typ)
• Maori: whiro, wirou
• Nahuatl: huexōtl
• Navajo: kʼaiʼ
• Northern Sami: sieđga
• Norwegian: vier (no) m, vierslekt m, viere pl
• Occitan: sause (oc), salze m
• Old Church Slavonic: врьбиѥ n (vrĭbije) (collective)
• Ossetian: хæрис (xæris)
• Pashto: وله‎ f (wala)
• Persian: بید مجنون‎ (bid majnun), بید‎ (fa) (bid)
• Polish: wierzba (pl) f
• Portuguese: salgueiro (pt) m
• Quechua: sawsi, wayaw
• Romanian: salcie (ro) f
• Russian: и́ва (ru) f (íva), ве́рба (ru) f (vérba)
• Sardinian: sabixi, saighi, sagili, saliche
• Scottish Gaelic: seileach m
• Serbo-Croatian: vrba (sh) f
• Slovak: vŕba (sk) f
• Slovene: vrba (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjerba f

  Upper Sorbian: wjerba f

• Southern Altai: тал (tal)
• Spanish: sauce (es) m
• Swahili: mwerebi sg, mierebi pl
• Swedish: pil (sv) c, vide (sv)
• Tagalog: sawse
• Taos: íałoną
• Telugu: ఒక విధమైన చెట్టు (oka vidhamaina ceṭṭu)
• Thai: ต้นหลิว (ton lio)
• Tibetan: ལྕང་མ། (lcang ma)
• Turkish: söğüt (tr)
• Ukrainian: верба (uk) f (verba)
• Venetian: salgaro (vec)
• Vietnamese: liễu (vi)
• Volapük: salig (vo)
• Welsh: helygen f
• Yakut: үөт (üöt)
• Yiddish: ווערבע‎ f (verbe)

Verb

willow (third-person singular simple present willows, present participle willowing, simple past and past participle willowed)

1. (transitive) To open and cleanse (cotton, flax, wool, etc.) by means of a willow.
2. (intransitive) To form a shape or move in a way similar to the long, slender branches of a willow.
   • 1928, Robert Byron, The Station: Travels to the Holy Mountain of Greece, Chapter 12,^[1]

     Willowing over the rough cobbles of the little pier stepped a thin, bent figure, adorned with a silver nannygoat’s beard and bobbling eyes interrupted by the rim of a pair of pince-nez.

   • 1930, Talbot Mundy, Black Light, Chapter 7,^[2]

     Joe’s impulse was to sketch her, with her shadow willowing beyond her on the mouse-gray paving-stone; but his left fist, obeying instinct, remained clenched behind his back […]

   • 1985, Martin Booth, Hiroshima Joe, New York: Picador, p. 394,^[3]

     It was floating a foot under the surface. The eyes were holes. The mouth was a slit cavern of darkness. The hair willowed around the scalp.

   • 2013, Dean Koontz, Wilderness, Bantam Books,^[4]

     The draft-drawn smoke willowed down through the hole and across my face, but I didn’t worry about coughing or sneezing.