bough

American  

[bou] / baʊ /

noun

1. a branch of a tree, especially one of the larger or main branches.

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bough British  

/ baʊ /

noun

1. any of the main branches of a tree

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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?

Example Sentences

Sometimes seven-year-old Bayas would stand on a slender bough and lean out until it bent under his bulk, then ride it to a neighboring trunk.

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

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

A clump of snow shook loose from a tree bough and barely missed my head.

From New York Times • Dec. 31, 2019

On an apple bough, the phoebe teeters and wags its tail and says, “Phoebe, phoe-bee!”

From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White

Related Words

• sprig