willow

What it means

1. countableuncountableAny of various deciduous trees or shrubs in the genus Salix, in the willow family Salicaceae, found primarily on moist soils in cooler zones in the northern hemisphere.

   By old age she was emaciated, the bones jutting out of her face and her figure frail as a willow branch.

   1983 December 3, J. R., “Isak Dinesen, The Life of a Storyteller (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 20, page 10

   4 more examples

   […] and through the middle of this forest, from wall to wall, ran a winding line of brilliant green which marked the course of cottonwoods and willows.

   1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC

   And willows, willow-herb, and grass, / And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, / No whit less still and lonely fair / Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

   1917, Edward Thomas, “Adlestrop”, in Poems, London: Selwyn & Blount, page 40

   The pounded leaves of the willow, drunk in a concoction, were formerly reputed to diminish amatory desires.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 249

   Deep in the willow / Hidden from grace / Succumb to insecurity / Your final resting place / Crafting your perfect world, ignoring total truth / You'll die alone / There's only room for you

   2023, “Deep in the Willow”, performed by Knocked Loose

2. countableuncountableThe wood of these trees.
3. colloquialcountableuncountableball gamesA cricket bat.

In a sentence

[…] and through the middle of this forest, from wall to wall, ran a winding line of brilliant green which marked the course of cottonwoods and willows.

1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*welik-
2. Proto-Germanic*wiligaz
3. Proto-West Germanic*wilig
4. Old Englishweliġ
5. Middle Englishwilwe
6. Englishwillow

From Middle English wilwe, welew, variant of wilghe, from Old English weliġ, from Proto-West Germanic *wilig, from Proto-Germanic *wiligaz, from Proto-Indo-European *welik- (compare (Arcadian) Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), Hittite 𒌑𒂖𒆪 (welku, “grass”)), from *wel- (“twist, turn”). Cognate to West Frisian wylch and more distantly (via Proto-West Germanic *wilgijā) to Dutch wilg and German Wilge.