DictionaryAI

bough

noun
BOW/baʊ/

Pluralboughs

2 meanings of bough

Practice

  1. 1
    large branchnouncountable
    A large branch that grows straight out from a tree's trunk.

    Like one of the big arms reaching out from a tree's body.

    A heavy bough snapped off the old oak during the storm.

    Birds rested on the lowest bough of the apple tree.

    Similarbranch, limb

    Note
  2. 2
    nounobsoletefiguratively
    A tree branch or wooden frame used to hang a person to death.
    "No need," he said, "long words to make, / And little heed we thy lies now, / But if she doom thee to the bough.["]
    1870, William Morris, “December: The Fostering of Aslaug”Here, the bough means the gallows, the tree limb used for hanging someone.
    Note

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Origin

It comes from Old English "bōg" meaning a branch, arm, or shoulder. This goes back to older Germanic and Proto-Indo-European words for "arm".

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

  • Bough comes from Old English bōg, meaning branch, arm, or shoulder. en.wiktionary.org
  • Its ancestors include Germanic and Proto-Indo-European words referring to the arm. en.wiktionary.org