willow

plural willows

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.
4. countableslanguncountableball gamesThe baseball bat.
5. countableuncountableA rotating spiked drum used to open and clean cotton heads.

present singular third person willows · participle present willowing · participle past willowed · past willowed

1. transitiveTo open and cleanse (cotton, flax, wool, etc.) by means of a willow.
2. intransitiveTo form a shape or move in a way similar to the long, slender branches of a willow.

   The draft-drawn smoke willowed down through the hole and across my face, but I didn’t worry about coughing or sneezing.

   2013, Dean Koontz, Wilderness, Bantam Books

   3 more examples

   Willowing over the rough cobbles of the little pier stepped a thin, bent figure, adorned with a silver nanny-goat's beard and bobbling eyes interrupted by the rim of a pair of pince-nez.

   1928, Robert Byron, “Gardenias and Sweetpeas”, in The Station: Athos: Treasures and Men, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 175

   Joe’s impulse was to sketch her, with her shadow willowing beyond her on the mouse-gray paving-stone; but his left fist, obeying instinct, remained clenched behind his back […]

   1930, Talbot Mundy, chapter 7, in Black Light

   It was floating a foot under the surface. The eyes were holes. The mouth was a slit cavern of darkness. The hair willowed around the scalp.

   1985, Martin Booth, Hiroshima Joe, New York: Picador, page 394

1. A female given name from English of modern usage.

   Before he died her father had run a nursery just outside the town. He loved trees so much he'd even named his two daughters and one son after them: Willow, Ashley and Oak.

   1992, Martha Grimes, The End of the Pier, page 132

2. A census-designated place in Alaska.
3. A town in Oklahoma.
4. A town in Wisconsin.