Willow

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: wil=low

CIDE DICTIONARY

Willow, n. [OE. wilowe, wilwe, AS. wilig, welig; akin to OD. wilge, D. wilg, LG. wilge. Cf. Willy.].

•  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.” Sir W. Scott. Hence, a lover forsaken by, or having lost, the person beloved, is said to wear the willow.  [1913 Webster]

  "And I must wear the willow garland
  For him that's dead or false to me."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

Almond willow, Pussy willow, Weeping willow. (Bot.) See under Almond, Pussy, and Weeping. -- Willow biter (Zoöl.) the blue tit. [Prov. Eng.] -- Willow fly (Zoöl.), a greenish European stone fly (Chloroperla viridis); -- called also yellow Sally. -- Willow gall (Zoöl.), a conical, scaly gall produced on willows by the larva of a small dipterous fly (Cecidomyia strobiloides). -- Willow grouse (Zoöl.), the white ptarmigan. See ptarmigan. -- Willow lark (Zoöl.), the sedge warbler. [Prov. Eng.] -- Willow ptarmigan (Zoöl.) (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. McElrath. -- Willow thrush (Zoöl.), a variety of the veery, or Wilson's thrush. See Veery. -- Willow warbler (Zoöl.), a very small European warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus); -- called also bee bird, haybird, golden wren, pettychaps, sweet William, Tom Thumb, and willow wren.

Willow, v. t. 

 To open and cleanse, as cotton, flax, or wool, by means of a willow. See Willow, n., 2.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Willow, n.
1 a tree or shrub of the genus Salix, growing usu. near water in temperate climates, with small flowers borne on catkins, and pliant branches yielding osiers and timber for cricket-bats, baskets, etc.
2 a cricket-bat.

Idiom

willow grouse a common European grouse, Lagopus lagopus, with brown breeding plumage and white winter plumage. willow-herb any plant of the genus Epilobium etc., esp. one with leaves like a willow and pale purple flowers. willow-pattern a conventional design representing a Chinese scene, often with a willow tree, of blue on white porcelain, stoneware, or earthenware. willow-warbler (or -wren) a small woodland bird, Phylloscopus trochilus, with a tuneful song.

Etymology

OE welig

ROGET THESAURUS

Willow

Lamentation

N lament, lamentation, wail, complaint, plaint, murmur, mutter, grumble, groan, moan, whine, whimper, sob, sigh, suspiration, heaving, deep sigh, cry, scream, howl, outcry, wail of woe, ululation, frown, scowl, tear, weeping, flood of tears, fit of crying, lacrimation, lachrymation, melting mood, weeping and gnashing of teeth, plaintiveness, languishment, condolence, mourning, weeds, willow, cypress, crape, deep mourning, sackcloth and ashes, lachrymatory, knell, deep death song, dirge, coronach, nenia, requiem, elegy, epicedium, threne, monody, threnody, jeremiad, jeremiade, ullalulla, mourner, grumbler, Noobe, Heraclitus, lamenting, in mourning, in sackcloth and ashes, sorrowing, sorrowful, mournful, tearful, lachrymose, plaintive, plaintful, querulous, querimonious, in the melting mood, threnetic, in tears, with tears in one's eyes, with moistened eyes, with watery eyes, bathed in tears, dissolved in tears, like Niobe all tears, elegiac, epicedial, de profundis, les larmes aux yeux, Int, heigh-ho!, alas!, alack!, O dear!, ah me!, woe is me!, lackadaisy!, well a day!, lack a day!, alack a day!, wellaway!, alas the day!, O tempora O mores!, what a pity!, miserabile dictu!, O lud lud!, too true!, tears standing in the eyes, tears starting from the eyes, eyes suffused, eyes swimming, eyes brimming, eyes overflowing with tears, if you have tears prepare to shed them now, interdum lacrymae pondera vocis habent, strangled his language in his tears, tears such as angels weep.