willow

Speech parts

1. willow - Noun

2. willow - Verb

3. Willow - Proper noun

Meaning

Any tree or shrub of the genus Salix, including many species, most of which are characterized often used as an emblem of sorrow, desolation, or desertion. "A wreath of willow to show my forsaken plight." Sir W. Scott. Hence, a lover forsaken by, or having lost, the person beloved, is said to wear the willow.

A machine in which cotton or wool is opened and cleansed by the action of long spikes projecting from a drum which revolves within a box studded with similar spikes; -- probably so called from having been originally a cylindrical cage made of willow rods, though some derive the term from winnow, as denoting the winnowing, or cleansing, action of the machine. Called also willy, twilly, twilly devil, and devil.

To open and cleanse, as cotton, flax, or wool, by means of a willow. See Willow, n., 2.

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Phrases with the word

Examples

The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows - a wall against the wind. Frank Herbert

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind. Bruce Lee

All a green willow, willow, All a green willow is my garland. John Heywood

Grapes do not grow in a willow tree. Bulgarian Proverb

A willow before the wind. Japanese Proverb

One cannot always find a fish under a willow. Japanese Proverb

Close letter words and terms