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💨 To rise in waves 🌊 A large wave
to billow

to billow

27 5.3
To rise and move in large, wave-like shapes, like smoke or cloth
  • verb
  • /ˈbɪloʊ/
translation icon : salir en volutas
  • The fabric of her dress billowed in the gentle breeze as she walked along the beach.
  • billowing smoke
  • billowing clouds
  • billowing drapery

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

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Examples

  • 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

to wave
vsto billow
64 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
to surge
vsto billow
57 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
to balloon
vsto billow
21 4.7

To increase quickly in size or amount

is a rolling, outward swell rather than uniform inflation
to stream
vsto billow
18 3.4

To trail out in a long, flowing way behind something

is a rolling outward swell rather than a long thin flow
to heave
vsto billow
13 5.3

To rise and fall in a regular way like waves

is a rolling outward swell rather than a steady rhythmic rise
to arise
vsto billow
8 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

to sink
258 1.0

To go down below the surface of water and become underwater

to flatten
23 2.6

Make something flat and smooth by pressing it

How Much

to burst
164 1.4
to surge
57 4.1
to billow
27 5.3
to undulate
10 7.7
to ripple
49 2.7

Surface Forms

billow infinitive
billowed past
billowed past participle
billowing present participle
billows third person singular

Etymology

Billow as a verb comes from an old German word bulg meaning 'swell', the same idea you see in the word bulge. So to billow is to swell or move out in a soft, wave-like way, like smoke or cloth.