Bough
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
bough¹
- /ˈbaʊ̯/
- [ˈbaʊ̯]
- /ˈbæʊ̯/
- [ˈbæʊ̯]
Sounds like bao, bow (to bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference) · Rhymes with -aʊ
Where it comes from
PIE word
*bʰeh₂ǵʰús
From Middle English bough (“branch of a bush or tree, especially a main branch; limb of an animal or person; something resembling a branch (such as a plant root or branch of a nerve); (figuratively) Christian cross; descendant, offspring”) [and other forms], from Old English bōg, bōh (“tree bough or branch; arm; shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōgu, from Proto-Germanic *bōguz (“shoulder; upper arm”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵʰús (“arm”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bouch, West Frisian boech, Dutch boeg, German Low German Boog, German Bug, Danish bov, Icelandic bógur, and distantly with Ancient Greek πῆχυς (pêkhus, “forearm, cubit, etc.”). Doublet of bow ("front of a ship, prow").
noun boughs · bow · bowe
- A tree-branch, usually a primary one directly attached to the trunk. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. (Rock-a-bye Baby)
- A gallows. It was vſed of auncient time in Gauelkind land, & hath receiued the allowance and iudgement of a good and lawfull cuſtome, that if the huſband be attainted and executed for a felonie by him committed, yet ſhall his wife for the ſolace of her loſſe and deſolation haue her dowrie of his land, and alſo
Bough²
proper noun Boughs
- A surname.
