bolln.1
/bɒl/, /bəʊl/, U.S. /bɑl/, /boʊl/ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > hollowness > [noun] > hollow object > bladder-like
bolla1300
bladder1702
utricle1731
bleb1775
a1300 Fragm. Pop. Science (Wr.) 331 As ic seide ȝou er of þreo bollen, if ȝe understode; In þe nyþemeste bolle þer þe lyvre doþ out springe.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. cxxviii. 1378 Þe bolle þat ryseþ on þe water..hatte bulla.
3. spec. A rounded seed-vessel or pod, as that of flax or cotton.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > seed-vessel or pericarp > [noun] > capsule
heada1398
boll?a1500
bladder1578
bollen1578
bullion1589
bob1615
hive1665
seed box1677
capsule1693
amphora1821
pyxis1821
pyxidium1832
pore capsule1878
?a1500 Med. MS. Cathedr. Hereford 8 (Halliw.) Take the bolle of the popy while it is grene.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xlixv The bolles of flaxe..made drie with the sonne, to get out the sedes.
1562 W. Turner Herball (1568) ii. 39 a These knoppes or heades [of flax] are called in Northumberland bowles.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xix. 30 A second kind of poppie called black, out of the heads or bols whereof a white juice or liquor issueth.
1660 R. Sharrock Hist. Propagation & Improvem. Veg. 22 They thresh it [flax] not out of the boles till March.
1796–1806 B. Hawkins Lett. 301 The staple of the cotton good, tho' not so much as it would have been, had it been thined and toped. The bowls or pods would then have been larger.
1835 J. H. Ingraham South-West II. 284 The pericarp or boll of cotton..is generally matured in eight or ten weeks.
1865 D. Livingstone & C. Livingstone Narr. Exped. Zambesi x. 214 They cultivate cotton..the staple being long and the boll larger than what is usually met with.
ΚΠ
?a1600 Turke & G. 220 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 98 Gawaines boy to it did leape, & gatt itt by the bowles great.
1659 J. Howell Particular Vocab. §xii, in Lex. Tetraglotton (1660) The Bolls, i pomi, les pommes.
Compounds
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > storage or preservation of crops > [noun] > stacking or ricking > stack or rick > part of
staddle?a1500
boll-roakinga1642
hood1658
stall1688
well1710
staddle1743
hood-sheaf1799
tipple1799
hooding-sheaf1802
hooder1807
hackle1842
hay-hut1903
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 62 That [straw] which is layd in the fillinge overnight to save the stacke from wette is called boll-roakinge of a stacke.
boll-weevil n. (in full cotton-boll weevil) a weevil ( Anthonomus grandis) destructive to the cotton-plant; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Curculionoidea or Rhyncophora > family Curculionidae or genus Curculio > anthonomus grandis (boll weevil)
cotton-boll weevil1895
1895 Insect Life Mar. 295 Report on the Mexican Cotton-Boll Weevil in Texas..by C. H. Tyler Townsend..[dated] December 20, 1894.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 26 Nov. 12/1 The boll weevil..has caused America a loss of £14,000,000.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 19 Dec. 1/3 The Mexican cotton boll-weevil.
1906 Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republican 19 July 16 The ‘boll-weevil democrats’ is the term of opprobrium which a southern paper applies to democrats who favour Hearst.
1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 31 Aug. 180/1 Reports of boll weevil damage and crop deterioration.
1950 A. Lomax Mister Jelly Roll (1952) 113 The longshoremen had two parades—one for the union men and one for the boll weevils, the scabs.
boll-worm n. an insect which destroys the cotton boll or pod.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [noun] > member of > defined by feeding or parasitism > parasite(s) > that infests cotton pod
boll-worm1848
earworm1882
1848 Rep. Secretary U.S. Dept. Agric. 1847 171 The destruction caused by the boll worm.
1880 Congr. Rec. May 3216/1 If the producers of cotton were greatly suffering from the ravages of boll-worms and caterpillars.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
bolln.2
/bɒl/, /bəʊl/, U.S. /bɑl/, /boʊl/ Scotland and the north of England, containing in
A measure of capacity for grain, etc., used in Scotland and the north of England, containing in Scotland generally 6 imperial bushels, but in the north of England varying locally from the ‘old boll’ of 6 bushels to the ‘new boll’ of 2 bushels. Also a measure of weight, containing for flour 10 stone (= 140 pounds). (A very full table of its local values is given in Old Country & Farming Words (E.D.S. 1880) p. 168).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > the scientific measurement of volume > measure(s) of capacity > [noun] > dry measure > specific dry measure units > six bushels boll
boll1489
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > [noun] > parts of furniture generally > ornamental parts
boll1651
gallery1853
split baluster1904
cresting1908
trim1922
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iii. 211 Off Ryngis..He send thre bollis to Cartage.
c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. xii. xvi. f. 185/1 He delt ylk owlk iiii. bowis of quheit.
1570 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 344 Sex bolls aitis and sex bollis beir.
1590 in W. Greenwell Wills & Inventories Registry Durham (1860) II. 248 Xxij boules of otes there 44s. iij boulls of big there 10s.
1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem 57 The boll..salbe in the deipnes nine inches..And in the Roundnes aboue, it sall contein thrie score and twelue inches.
1630 J. Taylor Pennyles Pilgrimage in All Wks. i. 130/2 Euery Bole containes the measure of foure English bushels.
1651 Severall Proc. Parl. No. 88. 1353 And [the Scots Forces] seized 20000 Boules of Corne at Leith.
1691 J. Ray N. Country Words Boll of salt, i.e. two bushels.
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd ii. i. 19 Heer-yestreen I brew'd a Bow of Maut.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 291 In Strathearn it [shell marle] is sold from eight to ten pence the boll, being eight cubical feet.
1820 W. Scott Abbot II. xi. 343 You are owing to the laird four stones of barley-meal and a bow of oats.
1849 G. C. Greenwell Gloss. Terms Coal Trade Northumberland & Durham 8 The coal boll contains 9676·8 cubic inches, or 34·899 imperial gallons.
1875 R. Hunt & F. W. Rudler Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 1126 In Northumberland (Alnwick, Morpeth, and Hexham markets) [wheat is sold] per new boll of 16 gallons; in Bedford and Wooller markets by the old boll of 48 gallons.
1883 Times 9 Mar. Out of 65 towns selling by measure, only 35 used the Imperial quarter, the others selling by coombs, sacks, loads, bolls, etc.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
bolln.3
dialect.
An apparition; a bogle, an object of fear. See bolly n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > fairy or elf > [noun] > imp, goblin, or hobgoblin
thursec725
puckOE
puckleOE
goblina1350
hurlewaynes kin1399
Hoba1500
bogle?1507
chimera?1521
hobgoblin1530
chyppynutie?1553
bearbug1560
boggard1570
bugbear?c1570
empusa1572
puckerelc1580
puck bug1582
imp1584
urchin1584
fear-babea1586
hob-thrush1590
hodge-poker1598
lar1598
poker1598
bogle-bo1603
mormo1605
foliot1621
mormolukee1624
buggle-boo1625
pug1631
black man1656
feind1659
Tom Poker1673
duende1691
boodie?a1700
worricow1711
bolly1724
Tom Po1744
fleying1811
pooka1824
booger1827
alp1828
boll1847
bogy1857
beastie1867
boogie1880
shag boy1882
1847–78 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words
1875 J. H. Nodal & G. Milner Gloss. Lancs. Dial.: Pt. I 46.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
† bollv.1
Obsolete. figurative.1388 Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) 1 Cor. v. 2 Ȝe ben bolnyd [v.r. bollid] with pride.1480 W. Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxi. 211 Anone for wrath his hert gan bolle.
a. intransitive. To swell.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > swelling > swell [verb (intransitive)]
swellOE
bell?c1225
boll1362
risea1398
blast1578
about1725
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. v. 67 His Bodi was Bolled [other MSS. bolnid].
1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (1865) I. 298 Bocches vnder þe chyn i-swolle and i-bolled.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 6011 Bile & blister bollynge [Fairf. bolnande] sore.
1547 A. Borde Breuiary of Helthe i. f. xxiii The bely wyll boll & swel.
b. figurative. To increase.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > increase in quantity, amount, or degree > [verb (intransitive)]
forthwaxa900
wax971
growOE
risec1175
anhigh1340
upwax1340
creasec1380
increasec1380
accreasea1382
augmenta1400
greata1400
mountc1400
morec1425
upgrowc1430
to run up1447
swell?c1450
add1533
accresce1535
gross1548
to get (a) head1577
amount1583
bolla1586
accrue1586
improve1638
aggrandize1647
accumulate1757
raise1761
heighten1803
replenish1814
to turn up1974
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xv. sig. Zz Euen while the doubtes most boiled [ N.E.D bolled], she thus nourished them.]
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
† bollv.2
Obsolete.
To quaff the bowl; to booze.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [verb (intransitive)]
to drink deepa1300
bousec1300
bibc1400
to drink drunk1474
quaff1520
to set cock on the hoopa1535
boll1535
quass1549
tipple1560
swillc1563
carouse1567
guzzle1579
fuddle1588
overdrink1603
to drink the three outs1622
to bouse it1623
sota1639
drifflec1645
to drink like a fisha1653
tope1668
soak1687
to play at swig1688
to soak one's clay (or face)1704
impote1721
rosin1730
dram1740
booze1768
to suck (also sup) the monkey1785
swattle1785
lush1811
to lift up the little finger1812
to lift one's (or the) elbow1823
to crook one's elbow or little finger1825
jollify1830
to bowse up the jib1836
swizzle1847
peg1874
to hit the booze, bottle, jug, pot1889
to tank up1902
sozzle1937
to belt the bottle1941
indulge1953
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Micah ii. 11 They might syt bebbinge and bollynge.
1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Biii They bowle and bowse one to another.
1577 T. Kendall tr. Politianus et al. Flowers of Epigrammes Gull, bib, and bole..Eche can in Germany.
1577 R. Stanyhurst Hist. Irelande iii. 97/1 in R. Holinshed Chron. I Parese caused such as kept the warde, to swill and boll.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
† bollv.3
Obsolete.
To be or begin to be in boll. Cf. bolled adj.2
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > grow or vegetate [verb (intransitive)] > grow abnormally or unseasonably
spirt1584
boll1601
sprout1675
run1725
button1767
bolt1889
to set to seed1897
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xix. vi. 22 Garlick indeed should not be suffered to boll and run up to seed.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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