bough
/ˈbaʊ̯/ noun, proper noun
Forms boughs bow bowe
- noun A tree-branch, usually a primary one directly attached to the trunk. “When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. (Rock-a-bye Baby)”
- noun (obsolete, figuratively, poetic) A gallows.
- proper noun A surname.
Etymology
From Middle English bough (“branch of a bush or tree, especially a main branch; limb of an animal or person; something resembling a branch (such as a plant root or branch of a nerve); (figuratively) Christian cross; descendant, offspring”) [and other forms], from Old English bōg, bōh (“tree bough or branch; arm; shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōgu, from Proto-Germanic *bōguz (“shoulder; upper arm”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵʰús (“arm”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bouch, West Frisian boech, Dutch boeg, German Low German Boog, German Bug, Danish bov, Icelandic bógur, and distantly with Ancient Greek πῆχυς (pêkhus, “forearm, cubit, etc.”). Doublet of bow ("front of a ship, prow").
Webster’s 1913
- noun An arm or branch of a tree, esp. a large arm or main branch.
- noun A gallows. [Archaic] Spenser.
Etymology [OE. bogh, AS. bog, boh, bough, shoulder; akin to Icel. bogr shoulder, bow of a ship, Sw. bog, Dan. bov, OHG. buog, G. bug, and to Gr.bahu (for bhaghu) arm. sq. root88, 251. Cf. Bow of a ship.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bough”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details