bollard

B3O1L1L1A1R1D2
/ˈbɒləɹd//ˈbɒlɑːd//ˈbɒləd/Canada, US/ˈbɑləɹd/

noun

A strong vertical post of timber or iron, fixed to a wharf, dock, or the deck of a ship, to which the ship's mooring lines or towlines are secured.

“Near-synonym: towing bitt (often coinstantial)”

Similar
bitttowing bitt
OriginMiddle English bollard ← Old Norse bolr →
UncommonScrabble 10
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounbollard (plural bollards)

plural bollards

  1. nauticalA strong vertical post of timber or iron, fixed to a wharf, dock, or the deck of a ship, to which the ship's mooring lines or towlines are secured.

    Near-synonym: towing bitt (often coinstantial)

    2 more examples

    Today he had for bollard the unfinished monument half-erected to some all but forgotten anarchist.

    1959, Mervyn Peake, Titus Alone

    He sat on a bollard, looking out across the water, a man more small and shabby than expected.

    1965, Poul Anderson, The Star Fox

    Synonyms: bitt, towing bitt

  2. A similar post preventing vehicle access to a pedestrian area, to delineate traffic lanes, or used for security purposes.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA strong vertical post of timber or iron, fixed to a wharf, dock, or the deck of a ship, to which the ship's mooring lines or towlines are secured.

Similar
bitttowing bitt

More synonyms by meaning

nouna strong post (as on a wharf or quay or ship for attaching mooring lines)

Similar
bitt
Broader
post
Also see
bitt

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Old Norsebolr“stump, trunk”
  2. Middle Englishbole“tree trunk”
  3. Middle Englishbollard
  4. Englishbollard

From Middle English bollard, probably from Middle English bole (“tree trunk”), from Old Norse bolr (“stump, trunk”), equivalent to bole + -ard (pejorative or diminutive suffix).

More words from Middle English, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian вързало, кнехт
  • вързало (vărzalo)post to secure mooring lines
  • кнехт (kneht)post to secure mooring lines
Catalan norai, amarrador
  • noraipost to secure mooring lines
  • amarradorpost to secure mooring lines
  • bol·lardpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • pilonapost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Chinese Mandarin 纜樁 /缆桩, 繫纜樁 /系缆桩
  • 纜樁 /缆桩 (lǎnzhuāng)post to secure mooring lines
  • 繫纜樁 /系缆桩 (jìlǎnzhuāng)post to secure mooring lines
  • 車阻 /车阻 (chēzǔ)post preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Czech pachole, sloupek
  • pacholepost to secure mooring lines
  • sloupekpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Danish pullert, pullert
  • pullertpost to secure mooring lines
  • pullertpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Dutch meerpaal, bolder
  • meerpaalpost to secure mooring lines
  • bolderpost to secure mooring lines
  • aanlegpaalpost to secure mooring lines
  • verkeerspaalpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • pollerpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Esperanto bito
  • bitopost to secure mooring lines
Finnish pollari, pollari
  • pollaripost to secure mooring lines
  • pollaripost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • betonipylväspost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
French bollard, bitte d'amarrage
  • bollardpost to secure mooring lines
  • bitte d'amarragepost to secure mooring lines
  • bittepost to secure mooring lines
  • bornepost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • bollardpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
German Poller, Pfahl
  • Pollerpost to secure mooring lines
  • Pfahlpost to secure mooring lines
  • Pollerpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • Absperrpollerpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Hungarian kikötőbak, oszlop
  • kikötőbakpost to secure mooring lines
  • oszloppost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Icelandic polli
  • pollipost to secure mooring lines
Irish ceap ceangail, ceap ceangail
  • ceap ceangailpost to secure mooring lines
  • ceap ceangailpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • mullardpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Italian bitta, galloccia
  • bittapost to secure mooring lines
  • gallocciapost to secure mooring lines
  • paracarropost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • pilastropost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • spartitrafficopost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • colonninapost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • panettonepost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • dissuasorepost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Latin caudex
  • caudexpost to secure mooring lines
Malay tonggak, tonggak
  • tonggakpost to secure mooring lines
  • tonggakpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Māori pūtiki
  • pūtikipost to secure mooring lines
Norwegian Bokmål pullert
  • pullertpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Polish pachołek, słupek
  • pachołekpost to secure mooring lines
  • słupekpost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Portuguese cabeço, ancoradouro
  • cabeçopost to secure mooring lines
  • ancoradouropost to secure mooring lines
  • pilaretepost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Russian кнехт, прико́л
  • кнехт (knext)post to secure mooring lines
  • прико́л (prikól)post to secure mooring lines
  • шварто́вная ту́мба (švartóvnaja túmba)post to secure mooring lines
  • столб (stolb)post preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • ту́мба (túmba)post preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Spanish noray, bolardo
  • noraypost to secure mooring lines
  • bolardopost to secure mooring lines
  • bolardopost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • pilonapost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
  • pivotepost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Swedish pollare, pollare
  • pollarepost to secure mooring lines
  • pollarepost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area
Turkish iskele babası, baba
  • iskele babasıpost to secure mooring lines
  • babapost to secure mooring lines
  • babapost preventing vehicles from entering pedestrian area

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with bollard

pollardcollaredcollard
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

bollard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bollard

MLA

“bollard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bollard. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bollard,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bollard.

Source: bollard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.