• bow,bowe(both obsolete)

FromMiddle Englishbough(“branch of a bush or tree, especially a main branch; limb of an animal or person; something resembling a branch (such as a plant root or branch of a nerve); (figuratively) Christian cross; descendant, offspring”) [and other forms],^[1] fromOld Englishbōg,bōh(“tree bough or branch; arm; shoulder”), fromProto-West Germanic*bōgu, fromProto-Germanic*bōguz(“shoulder; upper arm”), fromProto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂ǵʰús(“arm”).^[2]

Cognate withSaterland FrisianBouch,West Frisianboech,Dutchboeg,German Low GermanBoog,GermanBug,Danishbov,Icelandicbógur, and distantly withAncient Greekπῆχυς(pêkhus,“forearm, cubit, etc.”).Doublet ofbow("front of a ship, prow").

• (Received Pronunciation,General American)IPA^(key):/baʊ/

• Audio(General American):

  (file)

• Homophone:bow(to bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference)
• Rhymes:-aʊ

• Audio(Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

bough (pluralboughs)

1. Atree-branch, usually aprimary one directly attached to thetrunk.

   When thebough breaks, the cradle will fall. (Rock-a-bye Baby)

   • 1610–1611 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act V, scene i],page17, column 1:

     Where the Bee ſucks, there ſuck I, / In a Cowſlips bell, I lie, / There I cowch when Owles doe crie, / On the Batts backe I doe flie / after Sommer merrily. / Merrily, merrily, ſhall I liue now / Vnder the bloſſom that hangs on theBow.

   • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Deuteronomy24:20:

     When thou beateſt thine oliue tree thou shalt not goe ouer theboughes againe: it shall be for the ſtranger, for the fatherleſſe, and for the widow.

   • 1653,Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter VII, inThe Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London:[…] T. Maxey forRich[ard] Marriot, […],→OCLC; reprinted asThe Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers,1969,→ISBN,page154:

     [Y]ou are to faſten that line to anybow neer to a hole where aPike is, or is likely to lye, or to have a haunt,[…]

   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe],The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London:[…] W[illiam] Taylor […],→OCLC,page139:

     When the Corn was ſow'd, I had no Harrow, but was forced to go over it my ſelf, and drag a great heavyBough of a Tree over it, to Scratch it, as it may be call'd, rather than Rake or harrow it.

   • 1819 May,John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, inLamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London:[…] [Thomas Davison] forTaylor and Hessey, […], published1820,→OCLC, stanza 3,page114:

     Ah, happy, happyboughs! that cannot shed / Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;[…]

   • 1897 December (indicated as1898),Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, inThe Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company; London:Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,→OCLC,page121:

     Now we plunged into a deep shade with theboughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: or anon we shot into a clearing, with a colored glimpse of the lake and its curving shore far below us.

   • 1913,W[illiam] P[lane] Pycraft, “Reptilian Liveries”, inThe Infancy of Animals, New York, N.Y.:Henry Holt and Company,→OCLC,pages173–174:

     [T]he creature [a Wagler's viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri)] is arboreal and feeds on birds. This extremely agile prey it is able to capture with ease, because it has developed a prehensile tail whereby it is able to take a secure grip of abough, leaving the rest of the body free to be instantly uncoiled as the fatal dart on the victim is made. The green colour of the young snake is a protective garment, enabling it to lie concealed among the smaller greenboughs. Later, with increased bulk, older and therefore blackboughs have to bear the weight of the body, against which a green body would be somewhat conspicuous, or would at any rate excite suspicion.

   • 2013,J[ohn] M[axwell] Coetzee, chapter 18, inThe Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Vic.: The Text Publishing Company,→ISBN, page172:

     A pair of birds settle on thebough above them, murmuring together, ready to roost.

   • 2018, Katie Ruggle,Through the Fire:

     Desperate to stop before hurling herself off the edge of the cliff, she grabbed for a nearby tree branch, but the spindlybough snapped off in her hands.

2. (obsolete,figuratively,poetic) Agallows.
   • 1584,A Breefe Discourse, Declaring and Approuing the Necessarie and Inuiolable Maintenance of the Laudable Customes of London: […], London:[…] Henrie Midleton for Rafe Newberie,→OCLC,pages26–27:

     It was vſed of auncient time in Gauelkind land, & hath receiued the allowance and iudgement of a good and lawfull cuſtome, that if the huſband be attainted and executed for a felonie by him committed, yet ſhall his wife for the ſolace of her loſſe and deſolation haue her dowrie of his land, and alſo the heire ſhall inherite the ſame according to that olde ſaying: The father to thebough, & the ſonne to the plough,[…]

   • 1870,William Morris, “December: The Fostering of Aslaug”, inThe Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part IV, London:F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […],→OCLC,page77:

     "No need," he said, "long words to make, / And little heed we thy lies now, / But if she doom thee to thebough.["]

•  branch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “bough”, inOnline Etymology Dictionary.