(n.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Salix, including many species, most of which are characterized often used as an emblem of sorrow, desolation, or desertion. "A wreath of willow to show my forsaken plight." Sir W. Scott. Hence, a lover forsaken by, or having lost, the person beloved, is said to wear the willow.
(n.) A machine in which cotton or wool is opened and cleansed by the action of long spikes projecting from a drum which revolves within a box studded with similar spikes; -- probably so called from having been originally a cylindrical cage made of willow rods, though some derive the term from winnow, as denoting the winnowing, or cleansing, action of the machine. Called also willy, twilly, twilly devil, and devil.
(v. t.) To open and cleanse, as cotton, flax, or wool, by means of a willow. See Willow, n., 2.
Example Sentences:
(1) Flight behavior was also typical for willow ptarmigan incubating in captivity.
(2) Words included in this title include mistletoe, gerbil, acorn, goldfish, guinea pig, dandelion, starling, fern, willow, conifer, heather, buttercup, sycamore, holly, ivy, and conker.
(3) Dairy farmer Dave Lawrence took the Guardian to the spot where the beavers are usually seen, close to an island in the river thick with nettles, willow and thistles.
(4) The rats produced IgE antibodies to each of the allergens used (maple, willow, poplar, ash, oak, sycamore, hickory, walnut, birch, and elm), yet the allergens had extremely limited cross-reactivity.
(5) In wild incubating willow ptarmigan, further approach led to tachycardia and increased respiration.
(6) Other popular Mackintosh designs in his home town of Glasgow include the Lighthouse, the Willow Tearooms and House for an Art Lover in Bellahouston Park.
(7) The tortoises also rapidly dropped into the water, as our boat ruffled the surface amid the willows breaking the reflections of the trees.
(8) Who wouldn’t fall in love with Mole from Wind in the Willows, Jo from Little Women, Tiny Tim from Christmas Carol or Roberta from The Railway Children?” At Wordsworth Editions, the independent press that publishes around 220 classic titles for £1.99 apiece, managing director Helen Ranson said she was “delighted” that Gibb was addressing the issue of providing classics affordably to schools.
(9) Nearly 12 years after conservationists asked government to help save the disappearing water vole, the whiskered creature that inspired the character Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows - along with seahorses, a shark and an edible snail - has become one of Britain's most protected species.
(10) Meanwhile Chris Sutcliffe has a scorched-earth policy when it comes to the old knotweed: "I had an infestation of Rosebay Willow Herb and successfully got rid of it by introducing pigs and a severe electric fence."
(11) This study compared plasma levels of dihydrotestosterone, testosterone, corticosterone, luteinizing hormone, growth hormone, and prolactin in migrating juvenile willow tits with those in territorial juveniles.
(12) 1.09pm GMT Local reaction to Lord Smith’s visit, such as this from farmer John Coate, seems largely negative: steven morris (@stevenmorris20) Willow farmer Jonathan Coate: glad David Cameron has promised action.
(13) Small birds rose up in clouds from the pond’s edge: chaffinches, bramblings, a flock of long-tailed tits that caught in willow branches like animated cotton buds.
(14) In writing his autobiography, he admits he may be putting a writerly shine on his past, but he believes his literary fate stretches back to when he first picked up a copy of The Wind in the Willows , aged 10.
(15) Asked why his first stop was not one of the flooded villages but a high – and therefore dry – willows and wetlands centre, Smith said he did not want to get in the way of emergency workers.
(16) An avenue of eight 25ft tall leafless willows stand above a sinister black pool to make the point that British woods and gardens face a host of new killer pests and diseases such as ash dieback.
(17) Just as Mr Toad had to be relieved of the keys before he flattened every living thing in Wind in the Willows , so human nature had made the advent of driverless cars pretty much inevitable even before this week’s Queen’s speech promised measures to build a market for them.
(18) That might be an occupational hazard for an investigative journalist, but if, as Peacock testified, cricketers are coming to the attention of dangerous fixers, it brings a chilling dimension to the game of leather on willow.
(19) There are seven black women gracing fall magazine covers: Willow Smith, Beyoncé, Kerry Washington, Ciara, Serena Williams, Misty Copeland and Amandla Stenberg.
(20) Education St Aelred's RC high school, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside; Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, MA in English.
Willowy
Definition:
(a.) Abounding with willows.
(a.) Resembling a willow; pliant; flexible; pendent; drooping; graceful.
Example Sentences:
(1) What makes this interesting is not that there are teenage girls willing to sleep on the pavement to get a glimpse of the willowy Harry, Liam, Zayn, Louis and Niall.
(2) According to tonight's No 10 statement Hilton is simply off to mighty Stanford University for a year's intellectual refreshment, something he did before when his wife – as tall and willowy and Hilton is short and chunky – landed a senior post at Google, another of the IT treadmills which makes political life more demanding.
(3) He's incredibly physically strong, a muscly bloke, not a willowy thing.
(4) The tall willowy woman was always conspicuous, wagging a disapproving finger, growling like a combatant in the advisers’ box, standing a full head higher than the men.
(5) The popular image – willowy, spike-heeled women spinning, kicking and lunging across the floor in the arms of tuxedo-clad men – is known as show tango.
(6) The former for a mix of willowy grace and sharp intellect; the latter for her ability to excavate the rage, rancour and incestuous yearnings beneath the surface of middle-class family life.
(7) In retrospect, it all seems pretty logical now: straddled at the tail-end of a self-indulgent bout of thoroughly earnest teenage introspection, which had manifested itself through long solitary gambols over village greens; vague, confused affairs with willowy, callous girls; occasionally picking away tardily at cheap open-tuned guitars in an effort to “express myself”; studious, worshipful dialectics over the hidden gem-like enunciations on Blonde on Blonde – above all, that arch-affectation of the world-weary Misunderstood Youth.
(8) In 2011, Vogue profiled “a 35-year-old, willowy media company executive”, who had just frozen her eggs.
(9) She’s willowy, kind and wise, a bit like the alien species from Avatar, but not blue.
(10) This fictionalised account of the rise and fall of a "nervous romance" between Jewish New York comic Alvy Singer (Allen) and the willowy, Waspy Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) was the high-water mark of Allen's gift for sublimely touching and funny screen comedy.
(11) Willowy and bright eyed with an impressive mane of salt-and-pepper hair, Le Roy has an air of amused detachment about her.
(12) She’s willowy, kind and wise, a bit like the alien species from Avatar, but not blue I needn’t have worried about starving, either.
(13) At the time many of those employed at the Riverside suspected the willowy, tricky winger with the adhesive first touch and deceptive change of pace might eventually eclipse another left-footer, Stewart Downing.
(14) The old man came onto his back porch holding a cup of coffee and looked east over the sound, his great grandson dawdling behind, hands in his pockets, a willowy boy of nine.
(15) Second is tying up a deal for Bordeaux’s Adam Ounas , a willowy French-Algerian winger.