bough
Americannoun
noun
Related Words
See branch.
Other Word Forms
- boughless adjective
- underbough noun
Etymology
Origin of bough
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bogh, Old English bōg, bōh “shoulder, bough”; cognate with Old Norse bōgr, Dutch boeg, German Bug; akin to Greek pêchys, Sanskrit bāhu
Explanation
A bough is a large branch from a tree. You know: “When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall...” A “lullaby” about a baby careening to the ground from a broken branch? (Nice.) The original “Hush-a-bye” rhyme, some scholars say, was modified in America to reflect pilgrim children’s observations of Native American mothers hanging cradles from tree branches so that the wind would rock their babies to sleep. Why do poets use bough when branch and limb mean the same thing? Well, maybe because more words rhyme with bough than with those others. Also, “holly boughs” and “blossomy boughs” sound much more musical than “branches.” What rhymes with branches? Cattle ranches?
Vocabulary lists containing bough
Joy To The Word: Christmas Terms
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Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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Stump Speech: Tree Terminology
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One of them, photographer Tim Laman, had tied a line to an arrow and shot it over a high bough.
From National Geographic • Jan. 23, 2024
“I see a ‘No Trespassing’ sign, I don’t do it,” she explains, recalling how her wife might pick fruit off a neighbor’s tree if the bough hangs over the fence.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 21, 2023
Instead of cutting down and burying this rotten bough, Bilger decided to climb to it, build a sturdy perch, have a long look around and report his findings in a new memoir, “Fatherland.”
From New York Times • May 14, 2023
There wasn't a single twinkling light or even a scrap of a pine bough, all the way from the subway station to her building.
From Salon • Dec. 24, 2022
The Sibyl, however, bade him have no fear, but fasten boldly the golden bough on the wall that faced the crossroads.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
