to billow

Examples

• All

• Hot ash and noxious gas billow out in a wave known as a pyroclastic surge.

• A living room window, open, its white sheers billowing lazily in the draft.

  Fiction book (1990)

• Wait a minute, we gotta keep the flag as stable as possible, because the wind resistance makes it billow.

  Operation Avalanche (2016)

• And then smoke billows out of this thing black and that yeah.

  The Basement Yard

• Here comes Madison, smoke billowing out of the engine now.

  Madison (2005)

• I noticed that when she showers, she has the water so hot that the steam billows from the bathroom.

• All at once, thick black smoke billows from the back of the Batmobile.

  Fiction book (1992)

• The Porsche screeches to a stop at the edge of a dune, dust billowing behind it.

  Fiction book (1990)

• Eva sailed out of the office, her crimson tent dress billowing in her wake.

  Fiction book (1991)

• Illustrations of burning homes, downtown buildings, billowing smoke, and large-scale destruction appeared in the eastern media and roused abolitionists.

  Academic text (2009)

Synonyms

S

to surge

vsto billow

52 4.1

To move suddenly and strongly forward or upward, like a wave

is a slower rolling outward swell rather than a sudden powerful thrust

W

to wave

vsto billow

27 1.0

To move with a smooth up and down motion, like a flag or the sea

is more about swelling outward in a rolling mass than simple back and forth motion

B

to balloon

vsto billow

20 4.7

To increase quickly in size or amount

is a rolling, outward swell rather than uniform inflation

H

to heave

vsto billow

14 5.3

To rise and fall in a regular way like waves

is a rolling outward swell rather than a steady rhythmic rise

S

to stream

vsto billow

2 3.4

To trail out in a long, flowing way behind something

is a rolling outward swell rather than a long thin flow

A

to arise

vsto billow

1 2.7

Move up into the air like smoke or mist

is an outward rolling swell of mass rather than a simple upward motion

Antonyms

S

to sink

104 1.0

To go down below the surface of water and become underwater

F

to flatten

86 2.6

Make something flat and smooth by pressing it

How Much

to burst

176 1.4

to surge

52 4.1

to billow

24 5.3

to undulate

14 7.7

to ripple

40 2.7

Surface Forms

Etymology