▪ I. bough, n.
(baʊ)
Forms: 1–2 bóh, bóᵹ, 2–4 boȝ, 2–3 boȝh, bou, 3 bohu, bohw, bouh, buȝ, 3–4 bugh, 3–5 bogh, 3–7 bow, 4 boghe, (boght), boow, bouȝ(e, bouw, bowȝe, buh, 4–6 bowe, 5 boe, Sc. bwy, 5–6 Sc. bew, 5–7 boughe, 6 bewch, boowe, bouwe, 5–9 Sc. beugh, 5– bough.
[Common Teut.: OE. bóᵹ, bóh = OHG. buog (MHG. buoc, mod.G. bug) shoulder, foreleg; MDu. boech, Du. boeg, ON. bôg-r shoulder, bow of a ship:—OTeut. *bôgu-z:—Aryan *bhāghu-s, Skr. bāhu-s arm. foreleg, Gr. πᾶχυς fore-arm.
The sense ‘bough of a tree’ appears to be of exclusively Eng. development; the Bow of a ship is ultimately the same word, but of recent adoption from Scandinavian or Low German. Notwithstanding a certain fitness of sense, this word is in no way related to the vb. stem *beug-, OE. b{uacu}g-an to ]
† 1. The shoulder of an animal. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Ex. xxix. 22 Þu nymst þone rysle of þam ramme..& þone swyþran boh. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 188 Seyne bowes of wylde bores with þe braune lechyde. |
2. A limb, leg. Sc.
| c 1550 A. Scott in Evergreen II. 183. xvi, Ryde down this brae, Thocht ye suld brek a beugh. 1706 in Watson Coll. Poems I. 46 (Jam.) Came and tuik her by the beugh. |
3. a. One of the larger limbs or offshoots of a tree, a main branch; but also applied to a smaller branch.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 8 Sume heowun þæra treowa boᵹas [c 1160 Hatton boᵹes]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 219 Þe huuemeste bou of þe treuwe. c 1200 Ormin 10002 All cwike & grene boȝhess. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 608 A grene oliues boȝ. a 1300 Cursor M. 8291 Apon a bogh þan can he seit. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. iv. (1842) 2 Vndur boes thay byde. 1423 Jas. I. King's Q. xxxv, From beugh to beugh thay hippit and thai plaid. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 45 The Bewes braid blomed about mine head. c 1500 God speed Plough 30 Our payment shalbe a styk of A bough. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. iii. x. 183, To couer the same with bouwes. 1653 Walton Angler 154 Fasten that line to any bow. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxviii. 150 Followed by a man dressed in green boughs. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. xxi. 182 Boughs are groaning and breaking. |
† b. transf. and fig. A main branch, as of a vein or artery; a branch of a family, or of anything metaphorically referred to as a tree. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 336 Bigin uormest et prude, & sech alle þe bowes þerof. a 1300 Cursor M. 24274 All sal be sauued thoru a man þat born es on þis bogh. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 40 He wedded þe dukes douhter..Þre bouwes of þam spronge. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 54 b, The religyous persone shold not..haue..deed bowes ne corrupte braunches. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. vi. 12 The Boughs of the Vein..are sent unto the transverse Muscle. |
4. transf. A gallows: cf. similar use of tree. Legal Proverb. ‘The father to the bough, the son to the plough’: supposed to mean that, according to Kentish custom, attainder for felony does not deprive a man's children of the succession to his property. arch.
| 1590 Swinburn Testaments 53 Or in Kent in Gauelkind..for there it is said, the father to the boughe, and the son to the ploughe. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (1862) 553/2 Some..have beene for their goods sake caught up, and carryed straight to the bough. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 77 If she doom thee to the bough. |
5. Comb., as bough-flecked a., flecked by the partial shadow of boughs (poet.); bough-house, (a) U.S., a temporary structure made of boughs; (b) dial., see quot. 1852; bough-runes, Stephens's name for the runic characters modified so as to resemble branching trees; also boughless adj.
| 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 404 The *bough-flecked dazzling light of mid-day shone. |
| 1811 Wilson Amer. Ornith. III. 111 Their destroyers construct for themselves lurking holes made of pine branches, called *bough-houses. 1852 N. & Q. 17 Apr. 371/2 Witnesses spoke of a ‘bough-house’, and the explanation given was, that certain houses where beer, &c. was sold at fair-time only had boughs outside to indicate their character. 1882 Mrs. Chamberlain Gloss. West Worcs. Words 4 Bough-house, house opened at fair-time only, for the sale of liquor. (Pershore.) Suppressed 1863. 1894 Outing (U.S.) July 281/1 Down in the bough house the campers reclined. 1946 Blunden Shelley i. 20 To the July Fair..folk came in from the country by hundreds and thousands, and ‘bough houses’ for their refreshment crowded the roadways. |
| 1839 Fraser's Mag. XX. 345 A birch-tree, entirely *boughless, branchless, and twigless. |
| 1868 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. 240 The Ice-runes are read in the same way as the *Bough-runes on the Maeshoue stones. |
| 1669 J. Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 249 Field-fares and *Bow-thrushes. |
▪ II. † bough, v.1 Obs.
[f. prec. n.]
a. trans. To strip of boughs. b. intr. To send out boughs.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §132 Dresse the wode and bowe it clene, and cut it at euery byght. 1852 [see boughed]. |
▪ III. † bough, v.2 Obs. exc. Sc..
[f. the sound; cf. bow-wow.]
intr. To bark as a dog (now only with Sc. pron. (baʊx)). Hence ˈboughing ppl. a.
| 1566 J. Studley Seneca's Agamem. (1581) 155 b, Nor barke with any boughinge throate. |
▪ IV. bough
obs. form of bo2, bow.