Meaning & use
bough
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Meanings
nouncountableliterary
A large, thick branch growing from the trunk of a tree.
Grammar: Found mostly in writing and poetry; in everyday speech people say branch.
Patterns
- the boughs of a tree
- a bough of an oak
A heavy bough snapped under the weight of the snow.
Birds sang from the highest bough of the oak.
The children hung a swing from a thick bough.
nounusually pluralliterary
A cut branch, especially one used as decoration, such as evergreen boughs at winter festivals.
Grammar: Usually plural in this sense, as in boughs of holly.
Patterns
- boughs of holly
- evergreen boughs
They decorated the mantel with boughs of pine.
Fragrant cedar boughs lined the front door.
Boughs of holly hung over the fireplace.
Word forms
| plural | boughs |
|---|
Common combinations
- overhanging bough
- The overhanging bough shaded the path.
- bough of a tree
- A bird nested in the bough of a tree.
- boughs of holly
- The song speaks of decking the halls with boughs of holly.
- bend the bough
- The fruit made the bough bend.
- bough breaks
- When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, says the nursery rhyme.
Synonyms and how they differ
- branch
- Branch is the everyday word for any limb of a tree, large or small, whereas bough names a larger one and is more literary.
- limb
- Limb is a plain word for a large branch and can also describe an arm or leg.
- twig
- Twig means a very small thin branch, which is the opposite size of a bough.
Opposites
Commonly confused: bough or bow?
bough vs bow
Bow (rhymes with now) means to bend forward and also names the front of a ship, and sounds exactly like bough.
Practice
The apples hung heavily from a low ____ of the tree.
Choose one answer.
A bough is a large tree branch. Bow sounds the same in one pronunciation but means to bend forward, and bog and bout are different words altogether.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bough”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.