Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Swelling or swelled into large waves; full of billows or surges; having an appearance or effect as of billows: as, “the billowie ocean,”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to billows; swelling or swollen into large waves; full of billows or surges; resembling billows.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to billows; swelling or swollen into large waves; full of billows or surges; resembling billows.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective characterized by great swelling waves or surges

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

billow +‎ -y

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Examples

  • Also popular are lightweight and sheer fabrics, such as billowy chiffons, silks and satins "fashioned into exquisite draping or dramatic ruffles," Valerie Joseph says.

    unknown title 2009

  • _r_, or _l_, to elide the liquids is to secure a kind of billowy music of

    Old Familiar Faces Theodore Watts-Dunton 1873

  • And her words are the ones I hear as my colleague talks, and I stare at the billowy clouds below.

    Stuart Dow: Growing Pains: A Dad's Struggle Stuart Dow 2011

  • We sat outside underneath breaking billowy clouds and where the sun felt absolutely delicious.

    Patzcuaro Bonito! 2009

  • A white shirtdress with touches of black, silver and aqua was particularly billowy in shape.

    Word of advice for spring wardrobe: caution 2011

  • And her words are the ones I hear as my colleague talks, and I stare at the billowy clouds below.

    Stuart Dow: Growing Pains: A Dad's Struggle Stuart Dow 2011

  • The details of the scandals may be ambiguous, but the worried expressions, their hidden shames, all presented on a tussled billowy canvas.

    Intersomnolence Wendy Wimmer 2011

  • We sat outside underneath breaking billowy clouds and where the sun felt absolutely delicious.

    Patzcuaro Bonito! 2009

  • The British designer sent out fetching variations on his hallmark baroque, layered silhouette: Cropped trench coats cinched tight at the waist were worn over billowy harem pants in Japanese prints or multitiered chiffon skirts.

    Luxury Is A La Mode At Celine, Galliano, Givenchy & Akris (PHOTOS) The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • I changed it to a simulation of utter simplicity: floating, blocky shapes, suspended against an uninterrupted, 360-degree blue sky, with a few billowy clouds to make for perfect flying weather.

    365 tomorrows » 2009 » March : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2009

Comments

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  • Cushion me soft ... rock me in a billowy drowse ... Whitman, Song of Myself

    December 9, 2006

  • The longest and only 7-letter alphaliteral that I actually recognised as a word. (Also bellowy, which I discount because it sounds stupid, and beefily, which I discount because I don't want to have to write this twice on two words. aegilops is the actual longest.)

    February 6, 2010

  • Not a bad word. Probably tattooed on Whitman's arms.

    February 6, 2010