▪ I. bole1
(bəʊl)
Also 7 boal(e, 7–8 boll.
[a. ON. bol-r masc., also written bulr, trunk of a tree; cf. MHG. bole (fem.), mod.G. bohle plank.]
The stem or trunk of a tree.
| c 1314 Guy Warw. (1840) 260 His nek is greter than a bole. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 622 By bole of þis brode tre we byde þe here. 1521 Fisher Wks. (1876) 315 The shadowe of the bole of the tree. 1641 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 32 Five upright and exceeding tall suckers, or bolls. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 158 Whose boughs shoot from the boal fifteen or sixteen yards. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Dressing, Boughs and Suckers, which have made themselves and the Boll knotty. 1848 Lytton Harold I. 306 Gnarled boles of pollard oaks and beeches. 1870 Bryant Iliad iv. I. 129 A fair, smooth bole, with boughs Only on high. |
b. transf. Anything of a cylindrical shape like the trunk of a tree, as a roll, a pillar.
| 1676 True Gentleman's Delight (N.) Make it up in little long boles or rowles. 1884 Pall Mall G. 11 Jan. 1/2 The sky..seen between the boles of stone. |
c. Comb., as † bole-fashion adv., bole-like adj.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. 1. 508 Another Holy, whose roote is not bolefashion. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 313 The bole-like stems of great plants. |
▪ II. bole2
(bəʊl)
Also 4 bol, 5–6 boole.
[ad. med.L. bōlus, a. Gr. βῶλος clod of earth; first used in Eng. in bole armeniac or armoniac: thence extended to similar substances.]
1. The name of several kinds of fine, compact, earthy, or unctuous clay, usually of a yellow, red, or brown colour due to the presence of iron oxide.
| 1641 French Distill. iii. (1651) 78 Such things as will flow must have bole, or powder of brick mixed with them. 1645 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 143 A..paper of a red astringent powder, I suppose of bole. 1686 Phil. Trans. XVI. 144 It may perhaps be better reckon'd amongst Boles than Stones. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. I. 73 A red Bole, called by the Country People Redding, or Ruddle. 1843 Portlock Geol. 152 A soft clayey amygdaloid, decomposing into a rich and deep red bole. 1868 Dana Min. 476. |
b. spec. bole armeniac, formerly also armoniak, etc.: an astringent earth brought from Armenia, and formerly used as an antidote and styptic.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 238 Bol armoniak [armonyak, -ac, amoniak] verdegres, boras. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health liii. 24 Take of Terre sigillate, of boole Armoniake, of eche an unce. 1558 Warde Alexis' Secr. (1568) 40 b, Take..Bolearmenicke. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Bolarmenico, Bolearminack. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 34 Plaister is made thereof with Bole-Armorick. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. cxxxii. 435 Take of bolearmony a quarterne. 1626 Bacon Sylva §701 Bole-Arminick is the most Cold of them. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 107 Bole Armonick..is a natural Earth. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 94 A Defensitive composed of Bole Armenia. 1799 G. Smith Laborat. II. 401 Take..bole armenic, parched barley, etc. 1832 Fraser's Mag. VI. 714 The best toothpowder in the world is Armenian bole. |
† 2. A large pill, a bolus; also fig. Obs.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 141 Thirty grains of Lentils swallowed down by way of Bole. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. xvi. 57 Ignorant..persons, who swallow down the bole and the box that carries it. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Water Germander, The plant..may..be prescribed in Boles as well as in infusion. |
▪ III. bole3 Sc.
(bəʊl)
Also boal.
[Origin unknown.]
a. A small square recess in the wall of a room for holding articles. b. An unglazed aperture in the wall of a castle, cottage, stable, etc., for admitting air or light; sometimes closed with a shutter.
| 1728 Ramsey Wks. (1848) III. 167 Bring from yon boal a roasted hen. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxii, Open the bole wi' speed, that I may see if this be the right Lord Geraldin. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. VI. 97 We have been benighted, and have been drawn hither by the light in your bole. 1834 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xxv. 365 The gold, which you will find in the little bole under the tapestry of my room. 1875 J. Veitch Tweed 92 A narrow bole High near the top. |
▪ IV. bole4
(See quot.)
| 1670 Pettus Fodinæ Reg. Gloss. s.v., Boles or Bolestids are places, where in ancient time (before Smelting Mills were invented) the Miners did fine their lead. 1785 Archæologia VII. 170 (D.) There was a bole..where in ancient times..miners used to smelt their lead ores. |
▪ V. bole
obs. form of boll, bowl, bull.