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A.Word.A.Day--boll

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: words that are homophones of everyday words.

boll (pronounced the same as bowl) noun

The pod of a plant, as that of flax or cotton.

[From Middle English bolle, from Middle Dutch bolle (round). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhel- (to thrive or bloom) that gave us flower, bleed, bless, foliage, blossom, and blade.]

See more usage examples of boll in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)

"No precise data are yet available for maize, but early results suggest that each bat near a cotton plantation saves about ten bolls." Fear Vandals, Not Vampires; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 4, 2007.

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