different between willow vs willowy

English

Etymology

From Middle English wilwe, welew, variant of wilghe, from Old English weli?, from Proto-West Germanic *wilig, from Proto-Indo-European *welik- (compare (Arcadian) Ancient Greek ????? (helík?), Hittite ???????????? (welku, “grass”)), from *wel- (“twist, turn”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?w?l.??/
• Rhymes: -?l??
• (US) IPA^(key): /?w?lo?/
• Rhymes: -?lo?

Noun

willow (countable and uncountable, plural willows)

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.

2. The wood of these trees.
3. (cricket, colloquial) A cricket bat.
4. (baseball, slang, 1800s) The baseball bat.
5. A rotating spiked drum used to open and clean cotton heads.

Synonyms

• withy

Derived terms

• French willow
• Red Willow County
• Red Willow Creek
• weeping willow
• willow in the wind

Translations

Verb

willow (third-person singular simple present willows, present participle willowing, simple past and past participle willowed)

1. (transitive) To open and cleanse (cotton, flax, wool, etc.) by means of a willow.
2. (intransitive) To form a shape or move in a way similar to the long, slender branches of a willow.
   • 1928, Robert Byron, The Station: Travels to the Holy Mountain of Greece, Chapter 12,^[1]

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

   • 1930, Talbot Mundy, Black Light, Chapter 7,^[2]

     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 […]

   • 1985, Martin Booth, Hiroshima Joe, New York: Picador, p. 394,^[3]

     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.

   • 2013, Dean Koontz, Wilderness, Bantam Books,^[4]

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

English

Etymology

willow +? -y

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w?l??i/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?w?lo?i/

Adjective

willowy (comparative willowier, superlative willowiest)

1. Resembling a willow.
2. (of a person) Tall, slender and graceful.
3. (of a place) Having willow trees.

Synonyms

• (resembling a willow): willowish, willowlike
• (of a person): lithe, slim, svelte; see also Thesaurus:slender
• (of a place): willowed

Translations