bough

tree branch: They hung the swing from the largest bough.

Not to be confused with:

bow – the front section of a ship or boat; to bend the body, head, or knee as in greeting: bow to the king; submit: bow to a request

bough

(bou)

A tree branch, especially a large or main branch.

[Middle English, from Old English bōh; see bhāghu- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bough

(baʊ)

(Botany) any of the main branches of a tree

[Old English bōg arm, twig; related to Old Norse bōgr shoulder, ship's bow, Old High German buog shoulder, Greek pēkhus forearm, Sanskrit bāhu; see bow³, elbow]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bough

(baʊ)

n.

a branch of a tree, esp. one of the larger branches.

[before 1000; Middle English bogh, Old English bōg, bōh, bough]

bough′less, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

bough - any of the larger branches of a tree

tree branch, limb - any of the main branches arising from the trunk or a bough of a tree

Translations

غُصن، فَرْع

větev

gren

Ast Zweig

rama ramo

branche rameau branchage

trjágreingrein

ramo

šaka

liels zars

dal

主枝树枝

bough

[baʊ] N → rama f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bough

[ˈbaʊ] n → branche f, rameau m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bough

n → Ast m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

bough

[baʊ] n → ramo

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

bough

(bau) noun

a branch of a tree. the bough of an apple tree.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I thought my quest had brought me into a strange old haunted forest, and that I had thrown myself down to rest at the gnarled mossy root of a great oak-tree, while all about me was nought but fantastic shapes and capricious groups of gold-green bole and bough, wondrous alleys ending in mysterious coverts, and green lanes of exquisite turf that seemed to have been laid down in expectation of some milk-white queen or goddess passing that way.

View in context

The wreath of roses, that hung from the lowest green bough of the Maypole, had been twined for them, and would be thrown over both their heads, in symbol of their flowery union.

View in context

Its little leaves were hanging tremulously, not yet so fully blown as to hide its development of bough and twig, making poetry against the spiritual tints of a spring sunset.

View in context

The meal finished, Kama replenished the fire, cut more wood for the morning, and returned to the spruce bough bed and his harness-mending.

View in context

"Oh, the mistletoe bough!" echoed all the boys, and the teasing ended in the plaintive ballad they all liked so well.

View in context

And as I watched him I felt in my own being, in my very muscles themselves, the surge and thrill of desire to go leaping from bough to bough; and I felt also the guarantee of the latent power in that being and in those muscles of mine.

View in context

We waded swiftly down it, in the dim forest light, for as much as three hundred yards, and then came across an oak with a great bough sticking out over the water.

View in context

With this cutting innuendo, Tom jumped down from his bough, and threw a stone with a "hoigh!" as a friendly attention to Yap, who had also been looking on while the eatables vanished, with an agitation of his ears and feelings which could hardly have been without bitterness.

View in context

Send no lunge beyond thy length; Lend no rotten bough thy strength.

View in context

He forbade his courtiers to frighten it, and the monkey, noticing how much attention was being paid him, sprang from bough to bough, and at length gradually approached the King, who offered him some food.

View in context

A lifeless body fell from bough to bough, and hung about twenty feet from the ground, its arms and legs swaying to and fro in the air.

View in context

"And then?" asked the Fir Tree, trembling in every bough. "And then?

View in context