willow

noun

1. 1

   Any 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.

   […] 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.

   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.

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

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

2. 2

   The wood of these trees.

3. 3

   A cricket bat.

4. 4

   slangThe baseball bat.

5. 5

   A rotating spiked drum used to open and clean cotton heads.

verb

1. 1

   To open and cleanse (cotton, flax, wool, etc.) by means of a willow.

2. 2

   To form a shape or move in a way similar to the long, slender branches of a willow.

   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.

   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 […]

   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.

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

Forms

plural

willows

past tense

willowed

past participle

willowed

present participle

willowing

third person singular

willows