Meanings
comparative more boln · superlative most boln · alternative bollen
- obsoleteSwollen; puffed out.
The Riuer, as running along the ſide of the City; in a skinne made like fleſh, naked, and blevv. His mantle of ſea-greene or vvater colour, thinne, and bolne out like a ſayle; […]
1604 March 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), B[en] Jon[son], “The Pegme at Fen-church”, in B. Jon: His Part of King James His Royall and Magnificent Entertainement through His Honorable Cittie of London, Thurseday the 15. of March. 1603. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] [and George Eld] for Edward Blount, published 1604, →OCLC, signature A3, versoSynonyms: bulging, distended, tumid, bulging, bulled, distended, extuberant, farced
present singular third person bolns · participle present bolning · participle past bolned · past bolned · alternative bollen
- obsoleteTo swell; to puff.
Se howe this toode bolneth:
1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement de la langue Francoyse, page 4602 more examples
and when the great raines or water cometh and ſinketh thorow the gravell, and cometh to the earth, then the earth ſwelleth and bolneth, and waxeth ſoft, and with treading, and eſpecially with carriage, the gravel ſinketh and goeth downwards; […]
1523, John Fitzherbert, The boke of husbandry, quoted in Richard Bradley, A Complete Body of Husbandry, published 1727, page 274For it is better to Sleepe lyttle and somewhat wyth watching to soke away humous, then immoderatly to bolne, swell and therewyth throughly to be cloyed.
1576, Thomas Newton, The Touchstone of Complexions, translating Levinus Lemnius, De habitu et constitutione corporis
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveSwollen; puffed out.
Origin
- Old Norsebólgna
- Middle Englishbolnen
- Englishboln
From Middle English bolnen, bollen, from Old Norse bólgna, from bolginn (“swollen”), past participle of a verb represented by Old English belgan (“to swell”). Compare Swedish bulna (“to swell, be swollen”), Danish bolne (“to swell, be swollen”). Related to belly, bellows.
More words from Middle English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
boln. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boln
“boln.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boln. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “boln,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boln.
Source: boln on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.