boll

English

Etymology

From Middle English bolle (“pod; shell”) and Middle Dutch bolle (“round object”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bullô (“round object; bowl”). More at bowl.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɒl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /boʊl/
• Rhymes: -ɒl, -əʊl
• Homophones: bole, bowl

Noun

boll (plural bolls)

1. The rounded seed-bearing capsule of a cotton or flax plant.
   • 1853, Solomon Northup, chapter XII, in [David Wilson], editor, Twelve Years a Slave. , London: Sampson Low, Son & Co.; Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, →OCLC, page 167:

     Sometimes the slave picks down one side of a row, and back upon the other, but more usually, there is one on either side, gathering all that has blossomed, leaving the unopened bolls for a succeeding picking.

   • 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 1, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‎, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 6:

     The champion picker of the day before was the hero of the dawn. If he prophesied that the cotton in today’s field was going to be sparse and stick to the bolls like glue, every listener would grunt a hearty agreement.

2. A protuberance or excrescence growing on the trunks of some trees, a burl.
3. (Scotland) An old dry measure equal to six bushels.
   • 1742, Virgil, “Appendix to the Georgicks”, in James Hamilton, transl., Virgil’s Pastorals Translated into English Prose; as also His Georgicks, , Edinburgh: Printed by W. Cheyne, ; old by J. Traill and G. Crawford, ; and by J. Barry , →OCLC, page 43:

     I ſowed on this Ground, without any Dung or Manure, a Lippy of Oats, from which I had a Boll wanting a Chopin.

   • 1792, Robert Bowmaker, “Number LI. Parish of Dunse, (County of Berwick.)”, in John Sinclair, editor, The Statistical Account of Scotland. Drawn Up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes, volume IV, Edinburgh: Printed and sold by William Creech , →OCLC, page 386:

     The farmers ſervants who have families, and engage by the year, are called hinds, and receive 10 bolls oats, 2 bolls barley, and 1 boll peas, which two laſt articles are called hummel corn, […]

   • 1944 September and October, Charles E. Lee, “An Ancient Underground Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 274, text from early 19th century:

     The waggons are deep and square; wider at the top than at the bottom, and are fast at all sides. The bottom has hinges, and can be let down to discharge the coals, of which these waggons contain about three bolls each.

Derived terms

• boll weevil
• cotton boll
• throat-boll

Translations

Verb

boll (third-person singular simple present bolls, present participle bolling, simple past and past participle bolled)

1. To form a boll or seed vessel; to go to seed.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Exodus 9:31:

     The barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

• bóol (Sette Comuni)

Etymology

From Middle High German wol, wole, from Old High German wola, from Proto-Germanic *wela. Cognate with German wohl, Dutch wel, English well, Icelandic vel.

Adverb

boll

1. (Luserna) well

   Synonym: gerècht

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter , Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

German

Verb

boll

1. (obsolete) first/third-person singular preterite of bellen

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian bollo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔll/

Noun

boll m (plural bolol)

1. postage stamp
2. brand

Related terms

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish balder, baller, from Old Norse bǫllr (“ball, globe”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoln- (“round thing, bubble”), from *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”).

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

boll c

1. a ball; a more or less spherical object which is not hard or unyielding (compare kula)
2. (soccer) a ball (pass)
   • 1992, Svenne Rubins (lyrics and music), “Långa bollar på Bengt [Long balls to Bengt]”, in Sex män i skor [Six men in shoes]:

     Jag tänker tillbaks på min korta sejour, som tolvårig grabb i fotbollsskor. Jag fick instruktioner, jag skulle gå, som back till vänster och tänka på, att kämpa och springa och bara slå, långa bollar på Bengt.

     I think back on my brief sojourn, as a twelve-year-old boy in soccer shoes. I was given instructions, I was to go, as a back to the left and remember, to fight and run and only strike, long balls to Bengt.

3. (colloquial, often in the plural) a ball (testicle)

   Synonym: testikel

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Finnish: polla, bolla

See also

• klot
• kula
• sfär

References

• boll in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• boll in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• boll in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)