hollow
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word hollow. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word hollow, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say hollow in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word hollow you have here. The definition of the word hollow will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofhollow, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhɒl.əʊ/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈhɑ.loʊ/
Audio (US) (file) - (Southern American English, Appalachia) IPA(key): /ˈhɑlɚ/
- Rhymes: -ɒləʊ
Etymology 1
From Middle English holow, holowe, holwe, holwȝ, holgh, from Old English holh (“a hollow”), from Proto-West Germanic *holh, from Proto-Germanic *hulhwą, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ḱólḱwos. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) Cognate with Old High German huliwa and hulwa, Middle High German hülwe. Related to hole.
Noun
hollow (plural hollows)
- (geography) A small valley between mountains.
- He built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Rockies.
- c. 1710–20, Matthew Prior, The First Hymn Of Callimachus: To Jupiter
- Forests grew upon the barren hollows.
- 1820 March 5, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number VI, New York, N.Y.: C. S. Van Winkle, , →OCLC, pages 110–111:
- This road leads through a sandy hollow shaded by trees for about a quarter of a mile, where it crosses the bridge famous in goblin story, and just beyond swells the green knoll on which stands the whitewashed church.
- 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, part I, stanza 1, page 1:
- I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood, / Its lips in the field above are dabbled with blood-red heath, / The red-ribb'd hedges drip with a silent horror of blood, / And Echo there, whatever is ask'd her, answers 'Death.'
- A sunken area on a surface.
- the hollow of the hand
- An unfilled space in something solid; a cavity, natural or artificial.
- a hollow in a tree trunk
- (figuratively) A feeling of emptiness.
- a hollow in the pit of one’s stomach
Derived terms
Translations
small valley
|
sunken area
|
|
feeling of emptiness
|
Verb
hollow (third-person singular simple present hollows, present participle hollowing, simple past and past participle hollowed)
- (transitive) to make a hole in something; to excavate
Derived terms
Etymology 2
From Middle English holowe, holwe, holuȝ, holgh, from the noun (see above).
Adjective
hollow (comparative hollower, superlative hollowest)
- (of something solid) Having an empty space or cavity inside.
- a hollow tree; a hollow sphere
- (of a sound) Distant, eerie; echoing, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched.
- He let out a hollow moan.
- 1903, George Gordon Byron, On Leaving Newstead Abbey:
- Through thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle:
- (figuratively) Without substance; having no real or significant worth; meaningless.
- a hollow victory
- (figuratively) Insincere, devoid of validity; specious.
- a hollow promise
- Concave; gaunt; sunken.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
- (gymnastics) Pertaining to hollow body position
Derived terms
Translations
having an empty space inside
|
echoing, reverberating, as if in a hollow space
without substance
|
Adverb
hollow (not comparable)
- (colloquial) Completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.
Etymology 3
Compare holler.
Verb
hollow (third-person singular simple present hollows, present participle hollowing, simple past and past participle hollowed)
- To call or urge by shouting; to hollo.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IV, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A Millar, , →OCLC, book VII, page 26:
- [T]he Converſation (if it may be called ſo) was ſeldom ſuch as could entertain a Lady. It conſiſted chiefly of Hollowing, Singing, Relations of ſporting Adventures, B—d—y, and Abuſe of Women and of the Government.
- 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
- He has hollowed the hounds.
Interjection
hollow
- Alternative form of hollo
References
- “hollow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.