▪ I. hollow, n.
(ˈhɒləʊ)
Forms: 1–2 holh, 3 holȝ, 6– holow, hollow.
[OE. holh (cf. OHG. huliwa, hulwa, MHG. hülwe, pool, puddle, slough):—OTeut. *holhwo-, app. radically related to OE. hol, holl a., hole n., and holc, holk, cavity; but the nature of the formation is obscure. As shown under hole n. (q.v.), hollow represents an inflexion of holh, *holw-e, *holw-es, etc., whence ME. holwe, holewe, holowe, while the inflexional type *hol-e, *hol-es, etc., fell together with hole n.
OE. holh was only n.; it was perh. from association with hol, which was both adj. and n., that holh was also made an adj. in early ME.: see next word. But the history is peculiar, for while the n. came down to 1205, in ME. only the adjective occurs; the n. reappears c 1550, app. formed anew from the adj.; from which time both n. and adj. have been in common use.]
1. A hollow or concave formation or place, which has been dug out, or has the form of having so been: † a. a hole, cave, den, burrow (obs.); † b. a hole running through the length or thickness of anything; a bore (obs.); c. a surface concavity, more or less deep, an excavation, a depression on any surface; d. an internal cavity (with or without an orifice); a void space; e. (see quot. 1940).
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xxxiii. 218 Holh wæs beboden ðæt sceolde beon on ðæm weobude uppan, forðæm ðæt wind ne meahte ða lac tostencean. Ibid. xxxv. 240 Ðær se iil hæfde his holh. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 23 Þah an castel beo wel bemoned mid monne and mid wepne, and þer beo analpi holh þat an mon mei crepan in. c 1205 Lay. 20848 [The fox] holȝes [c 1275 holes] him wurcheð. |
(
β)
In modern English.
| 1560 Bible (Genev.) Gen. xxxii. 25 He touched y⊇ holow of his thigh, and the holow of Iaakobs thigh was losed. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 3 It was the Nightingale, and not the Larke, That pier'st the fearefull hollow of thine eare. 1605 ― Lear ii. iii. 2 By the happy hollow of a Tree. 1611 Bible Isa. xl. 12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 774 The first Indians..had one, and some both of their teats bored thorow, in the hollow wherof..they wear a Reed. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. iii. viii. 240 If congealed bloud be in the body, and that within the hollow of it. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 165 We rested in the hollow of a Rock, where we spent the Night. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 62 The hollow of the Bones..serves to contain the Marrow. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 218 An Hollow on the Tooth [of a tool] makes a Round upon the Work; and a Round upon the Tooth, makes an Hollow on the Work. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 253 A like Iron Pipe, whose hollow were very small. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 124 Sometimes the back sweep which forms the upper part of the top⁓timber is called the top-timber hollow. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Hollow, the bore of a rocket. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Hollow..the empty portion of a bastion... The depression in an anvil-face or fullering. 1884 A. R. Pennington Wiclif ix. 296 Such places as the hollow of an oak. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 201 Completely closed hollows or cavities. 1885 J. G. Horner Pattern Making iii. 26 Many of the best wheels are made with hollows at the roots of the teeth, for here the action of leverage on the tooth induces the greatest stress. 1924 J. McC. Wilson Pattern-Making iv. 28 In finishing the pattern all the angled corners are filled in either with Angled or Hollowed Fillets... Hollows are used in well-finished work. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 418/2 Hollows, fillets, or curves of small radius, uniting two surfaces intersecting at an angle. |
| fig. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xxi. 271 The empty hollow of an unsatisfied heart. |
2. spec. A depression on the earth's surface; a place or tract below the general level or surrounded by heights; a valley, a basin.
| 1553 Brende Q. Curtius 170 All the holowes and valeys there about rebounding with the voice of so many thousandes. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 96 Within the inner compasse and hollow of Africke. 1649 Providence (R.I.) Rec. (1893) II. 9 His 6 acre Lot..runneth all along on the brow or top of that Hollow. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 258 A very narrow but deep hollow. 1846 H. Beckely Hist. Vermont 55 The vallies and hollows interspersed among the mountains and hills are generally very fertile. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 16 The river then does really occupy a hollow, inclosed on three sides by high ground. 1885 Miss Thackeray Mrs. Dymond 18 Can you make out the sea, Susy? Look, there it is shining in the hollow. |
3. The middle or depth (of night or of winter):
= Sc. howe.
| 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xv. ix. VI. 62 These were Friedrich's last general orders, given in the hollow of the night. |
4. Short for
hollow meat,
hollow moulding,
hollow plane,
hollow square: see
hollow a. 7.
| 1726 Neve Builder's Dict., Hollow, a Term in Architecture, by which is meant a Concave Molding, being about a Quadrant of a Circle; by some it is called a Casement, by others an Abacus. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. (1783) 13, I learnt to form lines, and hollows, and squares. 1823 Egan Grose's Dict. Vulg. T., Hollow, among epicures, means poultry. Nothing but hollow for dinner. 1850 Holtzappffel Turning II. 492 Concave and convex planes, called hollows and rounds. |
5. Bookbinding. A strip of thick paper or paste-board, cut to the height and thickness of the book for which the boards and cloth are intended, and which acts as a gauge for the guidance of the case-makers and as a stiffener for the cloth at the back of the book (
Ure's Dict. Arts (1875) I. 421).
▪ II. hollow, a. and adv. (
ˈhɒləʊ)
Forms: 3
holh,
holeh,
holeuh,
holu, 3–4
holȝ,
holewe, 3–5
holw(e, 4
holou,
-ouȝ,
-ough, 4–5
holowȝ, 4–6
holow(e, 5
holgh,
holuȝe, 6
hollowe, 6–
hollow.
[ME. holȝ, holeh, also holu, inflected holwe, holewe, identical in form with holh, holȝ, pl. holȝes, holwes n.: see prec. The development of -lw(e, -low from -lᵹe, -lᵹ, is normal: cf. follow, hallow, sallow, etc.] A. adj. 1. a. Having a hole or cavity inside; having an empty space in the interior;
opp. to
solid.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 1113 An holȝ [v.r. holeh] stoc hwar þu þe miht hude. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 202/96 In one holewe weie onder eorþe. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 251 And made kynges fourme of bras al holu wyþinne. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2182 Al watz holȝ in-with, no-bot an olde caue. c 1350 Will. Palerne 295 Vnder an holw ok. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 395 A ȝerde of fir holowȝ wiþ ynne as a pipe. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. viii. xxi. (1495) The sterres ben rounde..and ben sadde and sounde, not holough nother hooly in the vtter party. 1530 Palsgr. 232/1 Holowe spere, bovrdon. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 190 b, The juice thrust into a hollow tooth, asswageth the paine. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 567 This was hollow, the other solid. Ibid. 833 Blow it thorow hollow canes. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 84 In trunks of trees made hollow either by fire or age. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. iii. 30 Orellana placed his hands hollow to his mouth, and bellowed out the war-cry used by those savages. 1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 286 note, Although many species of trees are liable to become hollow, yet none are so perfectly hollowed as the gum tree. [1848 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. iv. 15 A marciful Providunce fashioned us holler, O' purpose thet we might our principles swaller.] |
b. Having an empty or vacant space beneath.
| 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 43, I would raise my foundation..three foot above ground; leaving it hollow underneath for Ventiducts. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 124 Alexandria is all hollow under, being an entire Cistern. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 136 They..dry and season their Boards..laying them..hollow for the Air to play between them. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. iii. 28 The floor..was snow, which I knew to be hollow beneath. |
† c. Porous or open in texture or composition: the opposite of close, compact, or solid.
Obs.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xx. (1495) The tonge towchinge the complexion of the substaunce therof is holowe and full of holes. 1733 J. Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. vi. 24 Roots and Plants, which otherwise require the lightest and hollowest Mould. Ibid., note, 'Tis easier..to imitate this Artificial Dust in hollow than in strong Land. |
2. a. Having a hole, depression, or groove on the surface; depressed below the surrounding surface, sunken, indented; excavated, concave.
| c 1205 Lay. 761 Wes þe wei holh & long. a 1250 Owl & Night. 643 Mi nest is holȝ [v.r. holeuh]. a 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2193 Ariadne, The holwe rokkis answerden hire a-gayn. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 242/2 Holow, as vessellys..concavus. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 44 Then must the grounde neither lye hollowe, nor in hilles. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 8 The snows..continue undissolv'd in hollow places between the hills. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 150 If any part of the Floor prove hollow, they lay a Chip..upon that hollow place, to bare up the Board. Ibid. 187 The hollow edge of the Hook. 1854 Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks. (1879) I. 151 Our way to it was up a hollow lane. |
b. Of the eyes, cheeks, etc.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1695 Holȝe were his yȝen. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxix. (Percy) 135 Hys eyen holow, and his nose croked. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 117 A horse when he beginnes to be olde, his temples waxe hollowe. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 114 With hollow Cheeks, and Eyes black. 1858 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 358 Bess..was rather thinner, and her eyes hollower. 1873 Longfellow Challenge ix, Hollow and haggard faces Look into the lighted hall. |
c. Of the sea: Having the troughs between the crests of the waves very deep.
| 1726 G. Roberts 4 Years Voy. 19 With a very hard Gale of Wind..and a very deep hollow Sea. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. x. 104 The ship laboured very much in a hollow sea. 1805 Naval Chron. XIII. 469 The sea was running very hollow. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Hollow Sea, the undulation of the waves after a gale; long hollow-jawed sea; ground-swell. |
3. Empty, vacant, void; hence, having an empty stomach, hungry; lean, starved-looking.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 108 So hungri and so holewe. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 289 He nas nat right fat, I vndertake, But looked holwe and ther to sobrely. c 1460 Towneley Myst. ii. 310, I will fayre on feld ther oure bestis ar, To looke if thay be holgh or full. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. iii. 75 His Coffers sound With hollow Pouerty, and Emptinesse. 1598 ― Merry W. iv. ii. 171 As iealous as Ford, that search'd a hollow Wall-nut for his wiues Lemman. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iv. ii. I. 392 That also is gone; and the hollow Eternities have swallowed it. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion i. i. 21 The strains dissolve into the hollow air. Mod. It must be getting towards dinner-time; I'm feeling pretty hollow. |
4. transf. Of sound: Wanting body; not full-toned; ‘sepulchral’.
| 1563 Sackville in Mirr. Mag., Induct. xliv, With broken and hollow playnt. 1583 Earl of Northampton Defensative Ep. Ded., Like young babies, they regarde... Rattles that can make a kind of hollow sound. 1633 T. James Voy. 8 It made a hollow..noyse, like an ouer-fall of water. 1798 W. Nares in Anti-Jacobin xxii. (1852) 106 My voice as hollow as a ghost's. 1881 Broadhouse Mus. Acoustics 175 If only the uneven partials are present..the quality of tone is hollow. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid ii. 546 On the brass of the buckler it smote with a hollow ring. |
5. fig. Of persons and things: Wanting soundness, solidity, or substance; empty, vain; not answering inwardly to outward appearance; insincere, false.
| a 1529 Skelton Sp. Parrot 595 So many holow hartes, and so dowbyll faces. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 113 Too holy a profession, for so hollow a person. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 66 It is knowne we were but hollow Friends. 1593 ― Rich. II, i. iv. 9. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. iv. §14 The Kings Army was hollow at the heart. 1769 Junius Lett. xxix. 131 A false or hollow friendship. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xlii. 562 Flattering and hollow words. 1832 Lander Adv. Niger I. v. 209 The governor's pretensions are as hollow as they are improbable. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. v. iii. (1866) 696 The hollow truce with the Huguenots in France had..been again succeeded by war. |
6. [
f. the
adv.:
cf. B. 2.] Complete, thorough, out-and-out.
colloq.| 1750 Coventry Pompey Litt. i. xvi. (1785) 41/1 It was quite a hollow thing; Goliah won the day. 1761 Colman Jealous Wife v. (D.), So, my lord, you and I are both distanced; a hollow thing, damme. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. lxiv, Which, in the opinion of my friends, is a hollow bargain. 1894 Times 31 July 11/1 The Prince's cutter steadily left her opponent and gained a very hollow victory. |
7. In various collocations, chiefly technical:
hollow block,
hollow tile;
hollow-adz,
-auger, tools with concave instead of flat face, for curved work (Knight
Dict. Mech.);
hollow-bastion (see
quot.);
hollow fire (see
quot.);
hollow fowl,
meat, ‘poultry, rabbits, etc., any meat not sold by butchers’ (Halliwell);
hollow heart, a disease of potatoes in which a cavity is formed in the centre of the tuber;
hollow-horn U.S. (see
quot. 1962);
hollow roll: see
roll n.1 11 b;
hollow spar [
tr. Ger. hohlspat], a name for
chiastolite (Ure
Dict. Chem. 1823);
hollow-stock, name of the plants
Leonotis nepetæfolia and
Malvastrum spicatum (
Cent. Dict.);
hollow tower (see
quot.);
hollow-turner, a mechanic who turns hollow or concave vessels, funnels, etc.; hence
hollow-turnery;
† hollow vein, the
vena cava;
hollow wall = cavity wall (
cavity 4);
hollow-way, a way, road, or path, through a defile or cutting; also extended, as in
quot. 1882. hollow month,
mould,
plane,
square, -ware: see these words.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Bastion, *Hollow or Voided Bastion, is that which has only a Rampart and a Parapet, ranging about its Flanks and Faces, so that a void Space is left towards the Center or Middle. |
| 1964 J. S. Scott Dict. Building 167 *Hollow blocks or hollow tiles. Concrete or burnt clay hollow building blocks are used for making partitions or external walls, or for forming reinforced concrete hollow-tile floors. Lightweight, thermally-insulating, hollow blocks are also made of foamed slag concrete, diatomite, gypsum, etc. |
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Hollow-fire, a kind of hearth with blast, used for reheating the stamps produced in the South Welsh process of fining, or the bars of blister-steel in the manufacture of shear-steel. |
| 1885 T. Mozley Remin. Towns, etc. I. 89 People had then to be content with ‘*hollow fowl’, as poultry, ducks, and rabbits were alike called. |
| 1926 F. D. Heald Man. Plant Dis. v. 94 *Hollow heart is most frequent in potatoes which have been stimulated to an excessive growth by abundant moisture. 1951 Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) III. 1655/1 Hollow Heart is usually due to the tubers experiencing a dry period in which they mature and lose water so that when the rain comes the quick growth causes the inner tissues to split apart. |
| 1805 R. Parkinson Tour Amer. 87 There were a few half-starved cattle; in general standing shaking with cold, and many more complaining of what they call the *hollow-horn. 1825 J. Lorain Pract. Husb. 455 The hollow horn, a disease which seldom fails to attack half-famished cattle. 1868 Rep. Iowa Agric. Soc. 1867 129 Cattle have few diseases in this locality except the ‘buck eye’ and ‘hollow horn’. 1962 J. N. Winburne Dict. Agric. 382/1 Hollow horn, an imaginary disease arising from the erroneous belief that loss of appetite and listlessness in a cow was due to hollow horns. The remedy was supposed to be (a) boring a hole in each horn..(b) filling the cavity with salt, sugar, and pepper, and (c) plugging the hole with a wooden peg. The belief was that if the cow had hollow horn this remedy would cure her, and if she did not have hollow horn, the remedy would prevent her getting it. |
| 1828 Craven Dial., *Hollow meat, fowls. |
| 1914 Archit. Rec. Feb. 142/2 Terra cotta *hollow tile was employed in the exterior and interior bearing walls. Ibid. 144/2 The floor construction used was the combination system of hollow tile and reinforced concrete. 1936 Archit. Rev. LXXX. 144/1 Floors and roofs throughout are hollow tile and concrete, and internal walls in the ward block are of hollow partition blocks. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Tower, *Hollow Tower (in Fortif.), a Rounding made of the remainder of two Brisures, to joyn the Courtin to the Orillon; where the Small-Shot are plac'd that they may not be too much expos'd to the Enemies View. |
| 1887 T. Hardy Woodlanders II. 243 Peeping out she saw..the *hollow-turner..loading his wares—wooden bowls, dishes, spigots, spoons, cheese-vats, funnels and so on. |
| Ibid. I. 56 A neighbour engaged in the *hollow-turnery trade. |
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 719 Through branching pipes of the great *Hollow-vein. 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. ii. viii. 105 Through the mesaraicke veines into the great porter veine, and from thence into the great hollow veine. |
| 1823 New Pract. Builder & Workman's Compan. 586/2 *Hollow-wall, a wall built in two thicknesses, leaving a cavity between, which may be either for saving materials or for preserving an uniform temperature in apartments. 1891 Notes on Building Construction II. 10 The hollow wall is often arranged to begin on the damp-proof course. 1942 J. A. Mulligan Handbk. Brick Masonry Construction 362 The building code of the City of New York uses the term ‘hollow wall’ instead of cavity wall. |
| 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) III. 147 Acquainted intimately with every country..the..roads, and *hollow-ways which lead up to them. 1882 D. Gardner Quatre Bras, etc. 182 note, The term ‘hollow-way’ is employed by English writers on this battle [Waterloo]..to designate any means of passage, from a footpath to a boulevard, which is enclosed on the sides to a considerable height, whether by walls, fences, hedges, houses, or embankments. |
8. Comb. (parasynthetic), as
hollow-backed,
hollow-billed,
hollow-cheeked,
hollow-chested,
hollow-footed,
hollow-horned,
hollow-jawed,
hollow-toned,
hollow-vaulted,
hollow-voiced adjs. hollow-fronted,
-nosed,
-pointed adjs., said of a bullet with a hollow in the point to ensure expansion of the projectile on impact. Also
hollow-eyed, -hearted.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §78 The nyne propertyes of an asse..the .vii. to be rounde foted, the .viii. to be holowe foted. 1598 Florio Worlde of Wordes 273/1 Pettoruto,..that is hollow chested. 1603 J. Davies Microcosm. Wks. 1878 I. 17/2 Breath'd out with grones, like hollow-voiced windes. 1791 Cowper Yardley Oak 4 A shattered veteran, hollow-trunked perhaps. 1831 Youatt Horse 31 (U.K.S.) Some persons prefer a hollow-backed horse. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. xlv. 255 ‘Look!’ replied the hollow-cheeked captain from his taffrail. 1854 Owen Skel. & Teeth in Circ. Sc., Organ. Nat. I. 239 The ruminants..called hollow-horned. 1886 W. B. Yeats Mosada 6 Bright-eyed, and hollow-cheeked From fasting. 1899 Kynoch Jrnl. Oct.–Nov. 14/2 If the ·577 pure lead hollow-fronted bullet hit a man he knew it at once. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 244/1 The hollow-pointed expanding bullet with soft lead nose. 1902–3 Kynoch Jrnl. Dec.–Jan. 43/1 Without the mutilation so commonly caused by hollow pointed bullets. 1909 Daily Chron. 26 June 1/4 The other cartridges..being of nickle steel and hollow-nosed. 1920 G. Burrard Notes on Sporting Rifles 40 A hollow-nosed bullet. 1963 V. Nabokov Gift iv. 240 He listened to these hollow-chested verses. |
B. adv. 1. In a hollow manner; with a hollow sound or voice; insincerely.
Obs. exc. in comb. (see 3).
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 101 Lo, how hollow the fiend speakes within him. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 291 Then he will cough more hollow. |
2. Thoroughly, completely, out-and-out; also (
U.S.)
all hollow.
colloq. [The origin of this is obscure, and has excited conjecture from its first appearance in literature.]
| 1668–71 Skinner Etymol. Ling. Angl. s.v., He carried it Hollow, Luculenter Vicit vel Superavit,..credo dictum quasi ‘he carried it wholy’. 1762 Foote Orators i. Wks. 1799 I. 193 Foote... You succeeded? Suds... Yes, yes, I got it all hollow. 1767 Chesterfield Lett. (1794) IV. cccxxi. 267 He set up for the County of Middlesex, and carried it hollow, as the jockeys say. 1786 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Farew. Odes xiv. Wks. 1794 I. 185 I'm greatly pleas'd..To see the foreigners beat hollow. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 39 Her blood carried it all hollow. 1839 Times 19 Oct., In the article of hypocrisy..as in sheer impudence, Minto has it hollow. 1851 J. H. Newman Cath. in Eng. 367 Local opinion would carry it hollow against popular opinion. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 47 She beats us younger people hollow. |
3. In
Comb., qualifying
ppl. adjs., to which
hollow is hyphened; mostly in sense ‘with a hollow sound’, as
hollow-bellowing,
hollow-blustering,
hollow-ringing,
hollow-sounding,
hollow-whispering, etc.; also ‘with a hollow foundation’, as
hollow-grounded;
hollow-ground a., ground so as to have a concave surface; so
hollow-grinding.
| 1611 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. v. Decay 537 O feeble stay! O hollow grounded hope! 1726–46 Thomson Winter 737 The hollow-sounding plain Shakes from afar. Ibid. 989 Muttering, the winds..Blow hollow-blust'ring from the south. 1728–46 ― Spring 918 The hollow-whispering breeze, the plaint of rills. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 599 The hollower-bellowing ocean. 1885 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 1048 The guaranteed razors. Cases containing 2 Hollow Ground. 1937 R. W. Fairbrother Text-bk. Med. Bacteriol. ii. 10 In carrying out the examination by direct microscopy use is made of the hollow-ground slide, which is a slide with a hollow of approximately ½ in. ground out on one surface. 1951 R. H. Hordern Woodworking Industry Managem. iv. 72 (heading) Hollow-grinding machine. Ibid. 73 This..will produce a hollow-ground bevel on the cutter. There are a number of reasons why hollow grinding is preferable to straight. 1968 Gloss. Terms Mechanized & Hand Sheet Metal Work (B.S.I.) 12 Hollow grinding, a method of grinding a tool to produce a concave face or faces behind a cutting edge. |
▪ III. hollow, v.1 (
ˈhɒləʊ)
[f. hollow a.] 1. trans. To render hollow or concave; to make a hollow in; to excavate. Also with
out.
| c 1450 R. Gloucester's Chron. (1724) 415/1 note (MS. Coll. Arms) Suche a stroke cam doune..that hit holwed the stonene walle to a mannes gretnesse. c 1477 Caxton Jason 20 b, How well the stone is myned and hollowed by continuell droppyng of water. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 55 b, Hollowing it cunninglie with an Aulle or a Bodking. 1727 Philip Quarll (1816) 46 A rock hollowed out like the entrance to a church. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 311 Some lonely elm That age or injury has hollowed deep. 1860 Tyndall Glaciers i. xviii. 125 The wall of one [fissure]..was hollowed out longitudinally. |
| fig. 1842 Tennyson Love & Duty 60 The want that hollow'd all the heart. |
b. To bend into a hollow or concave shape.
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. iv, Hollow your body more sir, thus. 1832 Tennyson Pal. Art 109 Hollowing one hand against his ear, To list a foot-fall. 1889 Macm. Mag. Aug. 246/2, I hollowed my hands into the form of a binocular glass. |
2. To form by making a hollow (
in something); to excavate. Often with
out.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper., The Cruell Maid, Next, hollow out a tomb to cover Me. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 19 Who led us into a Grotto hollowed in the Rock. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 338 Amphitrite..intreated the Nereids to hollow out that little bay. 1817 C. Wolfe Burial Sir J. Moore v, As we hollowed his narrow bed, And smoothed down his lonely pillow. |
3. To make hollow in tone.
| 1772 Nugent tr. Hist. Fr. Gerund I. 96 Hollowing his voice, and snuffling with much sedate confidence. |
4. intr. To become hollow or concave.
| c 1860 Faber Hymn, The Length of Death viii, How suddenly earth seems to hollow. 1892 Harper's Mag. 280/2 Her cheeks seemed to hollow in, and her chin shook. |
Hence
hollowed (
ˈhɒləʊd),
ppl. a., made hollow, excavated;
ˈhollowing vbl. n., a making hollow, excavation; also
attrib., as in
hollowing-iron,
hollowing-knife,
hollowing-machine, etc.
| 1607 Markham Caval. vi. (1617) 64 Make it by a little hollowing to bear..from the false quarter. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 643 In boats made of a hollowed tree (like the Indian Canoas). 1641 in T. Lechford Note-bk. (1885) 428 One hollowing iron..one rabbetting iron. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 207 Then first on Seas the hollow'd Alder swam. 1714 Addison Spectator No. 584 ¶6 The digging of Trenches, and the hollowing of Trees, for the better Distribution of Water. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Hollowing-knife (Coopering), a drawing-knife for working on concave surfaces. 1876 Clin. Soc. Trans. IX. 191 When the child was made to bend the body, this lumbar hollowing did not disappear. 1884 J. Payn Lit. Recoll. 217 His hollowed hand and smiling attentive face. 1889 Daily News 12 Oct. 2/1 Wooden pipes and hollowed trunks of trees. |
▪ IV. hollow, v.2 see
hollo v.