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Willow   /wˈɪlˌoʊ/   Listen
noun
Willow  n.  
1.
(Bot.) 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." Hence, a lover forsaken by, or having lost, the person beloved, is said to wear the willow. "And I must wear the willow garland For him that's dead or false to me."
2.
(Textile Manuf.) 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.
Almond willow, Pussy willow, Weeping willow. (Bot.) See under Almond, Pussy, and Weeping.
Willow biter (Zool.) the blue tit. (Prov. Eng.)
Willow fly (Zool.), a greenish European stone fly (Chloroperla viridis); called also yellow Sally.
Willow gall (Zool.), a conical, scaly gall produced on willows by the larva of a small dipterous fly (Cecidomyia strobiloides).
Willow grouse (Zool.), the white ptarmigan. See ptarmigan.
Willow lark (Zool.), the sedge warbler. (Prov. Eng.)
Willow ptarmigan (Zool.)
(a)
The European reed bunting, or black-headed bunting. See under Reed.
(b)
A sparrow (Passer salicicolus) native of Asia, Africa, and Southern Europe.
Willow tea, the prepared leaves of a species of willow largely grown in the neighborhood of Shanghai, extensively used by the poorer classes of Chinese as a substitute for tea.
Willow thrush (Zool.), a variety of the veery, or Wilson's thrush. See Veery.
Willow warbler (Zool.), a very small European warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus); called also bee bird, haybird, golden wren, pettychaps, sweet William, Tom Thumb, and willow wren.


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





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Willow" Quotes from Famous Books



... at the shabby old building, just touched by the moonlight behind the swaying shadows of the weeping-willow, stopped, looked again, and finally seated himself on a ...
— Beauty and The Beast, and Tales From Home • Bayard Taylor
... broken porcelain." This is an undoubted relic of Roman manufacture, and appears to have formed part of a plate. The blue "willow pattern" painted on it shows the antiquity of that ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 1, September 25, 1841 • Various
... 25th. The object of sending Lafleur to the Little Island is that he may procure a kind of willow that the Canadians call 'Courmier,' the bark of which scraped and boiled in water has healing qualities which they think will be of great service for Hassel's complaint. Confidence in anything is half ...
— The New North • Agnes Deans Cameron
... Columbiad," resumed the major, "Rodman used a powder in grains as large as chestnuts, made of willow charcoal, simply rarefied in cast-iron pans. This powder was hard and shining, left no stain on the hands, contained a great proportion of hydrogen and oxygen, deflagrated instantaneously, and, though very brittle, did not much damage ...
— The Moon-Voyage • Jules Verne
... I'll remember!" cried Agatha, ruffling her hair in reflection. "I've heard the name, I'm sure—I know! She's the creature who's come to Willow Cottage. She called once before, and mother said she could not for the life of her decide whether she was quite mad, or only three-quarters. ...
— A Houseful of Girls • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey


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