WILLOW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does willow mean? 

• WILLOW (noun)
  The noun WILLOW has 2 senses:

1. any of numerous deciduous trees and shrubs of the genus Salix

2. a textile machine having a system of revolving spikes for opening and cleaning raw textile fibers

  Familiarity information: WILLOW used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WILLOW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous deciduous trees and shrubs of the genus Salix

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

willow; willow tree

Hypernyms ("willow" is a kind of...):

tree (a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "willow"):

brittle willow; crack willow; Salix fragilis; snap willow (large willow tree with stiff branches that are easily broken)

bearberry willow; Salix uva-ursi (dwarf prostrate mat-forming shrub of Arctic and alpine regions of North America and Greenland having deep green elliptic leaves that taper toward the base)

dwarf gray willow; dwarf grey willow; sage willow; Salix tristis (willow shrub of dry places in the eastern United States having long narrow leaves canescent beneath)

Salix sitchensis; silky willow; Sitka willow (small shrubby tree of western North America (Alaska to Oregon))

creeping willow; Salix repens (small trailing bush of Europe and Asia having straggling branches with silky green leaves of which several varieties are cultivated)

balsam willow; Salix pyrifolia (small shrubby tree of eastern North America having leaves exuding an odor of balsam when crushed)

bay willow; laurel willow; Salix pentandra (European willow tree with shining leathery leaves; widely naturalized in the eastern United States)

black willow; Salix nigra; swamp willow (North American shrubby willow having dark bark and linear leaves growing close to streams and lakes)

Salix lucida; shining willow (common North American shrub with shiny lanceolate leaves)

arroyo willow; Salix lasiolepis (shrubby willow of the western United States)

gray willow; grey willow; Salix cinerea (Eurasian shrubby willow with whitish tomentose twigs)

dwarf willow; Salix herbacea (widely distributed boreal shrubby willow with partially underground creeping stems and bright green glossy leaves)

prairie willow; Salix humilis (slender shrubby willow of dry areas of North America)

hoary willow; sage willow; Salix candida (North American shrub with whitish canescent leaves)

almond-leaves willow; peach-leaved willow; peachleaf willow; Salix amygdaloides (willow of the western United States with leaves like those of peach or almond trees)

sallow (any of several Old World shrubby broad-leaved willows having large catkins; some are important sources for tanbark and charcoal)

pussy willow; Salix discolor (small willow of eastern North America having greyish leaves and silky catkins that come before the leaves)

Salix blanda; Salix pendulina; Salix pendulina blanda; Wisconsin weeping willow (hybrid willow usually not strongly weeping in habit)

Babylonian weeping willow; Salix babylonica; weeping willow (willow with long drooping branches and slender leaves native to China; widely cultivated as an ornamental)

arctic willow; Salix arctica (low creeping shrub of Arctic Europe and America)

cricket-bat willow; Salix alba caerulea (Eurasian willow tree having greyish leaves and ascending branches)

Salix alba sericea; Salix sericea; silky willow; silver willow (North American willow with greyish silky pubescent leaves that usually blacken in drying)

Huntingdon willow; Salix alba; white willow (large willow tree of Eurasia and North Africa having greyish canescent leaves and grey bark)

osier (any of various willows having pliable twigs used in basketry and furniture)

Holonyms ("willow" is a member of...):

genus Salix; Salix (a large and widespread genus varying in size from small shrubs to large trees: willows)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A textile machine having a system of revolving spikes for opening and cleaning raw textile fibers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("willow" is a kind of...):

textile machine (a machine for making textiles)

 Context examples 

The willows and aspens were bursting out in young buds.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Then he went out and cut willows, and brought them home, and she began to weave; but it made her fingers very sore.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A water-soluble prodrug derived from the African bush willow (Combretum caffrum) with antineoplastic activity.

(Fosbretabulin, NCI Thesaurus)

A stilbenoid phenol, originally isolated from the bark of the African bush willow tree Combretum caffrum, with vascular disrupting and antineoplastic activities.

(Combretastatin, NCI Thesaurus)

An inhibitor of microtubule polymerization derived from the South African willow bush which causes mitotic arrest and selectively targets and reduces or destroys existing blood vessels, causing decreased tumor blood supply.

(Combretastatin A-4, NCI Thesaurus)

The tromethamine salt form of prodrug fosbretabulin, a water-soluble phosphate derivative of a stilbenoid phenol derived from the African bush willow (Combretum caffrum) with antineoplastic activities.

(Fosbretabulin Tromethamine, NCI Thesaurus)

I have endured toil and misery; I left Switzerland with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among its willow islands and over the summits of its hills.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A synthetic water-soluble analogue of combretastatin A4, derived from the South African willow bush (Combretum caffrum), with potential vascular-disrupting and antineoplastic activities.

(Ombrabulin, NCI Thesaurus)

There was a long pause, while a blackbird sung blithely on the willow by the river, and the tall grass rustled in the wind.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Combretastatin A4 phosphate comes from the African bush willow.

(combretastatin A4 phosphate, NCI Dictionary)