boule

See also: boulé

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːl

Etymology 1

From French boule. Doublet of bull (etymologies 2 and 4) and bulla, or of bowl and pulla, depending on the etymology of the French word.

Noun

Boule bread

boule (plural boules)

1. One of the bowls used in the French game of boules.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

     Wani had been wet about the game until he turned out to be good at it, and now he was absorbed and unironical, tripping after the ball, yapping and grinning when he bombed the other boules away from the jack-ball, or cochonnet.

2. A single-crystal ingot produced by synthetic means.
3. A round loaf of bread.
4. A round piece of dough.
5. (woodworking) A through-sawn log with the slices restacked in the order and orientation they originally had in the log, usually with waney edges.
   • 1986, Fine woodworking on wood and how to dry it, page 42:

     Behind him is lumber 'sawn in the boule.' Wood is more commonly sawn in this manner in Europe and is stacked in the order it comes from the log.

   • 1995 August, American Woodworker, number 46, page 41:

     Specialty lumber dealers can cut and sticker a log "in the boule," so that boards hold the same relative position they had before milling

   • 1991 August, American Woodworker, number 21, page 47:

     A live-sawn log kept as a unit is known as a boule

   • 2005, Andy Rae, Workshop Idea Book, page 94:

     IN THE BOULE. If you work with whole logs, allocate enough space for storing flitch-cut planks in the order they were sawn. Their sheer bulk helps keep them flat, and stacking in order makes sequential matching for color and grain much easier

Translations

A round loaf of bread

• Catalan: un pa m, fogassa (ca) f
• Persian: کوماج (kumâj)
• Spanish: bola (es) f, pan bola m, bolla (es) f

A round piece of dough

• Catalan: bolla (ca) f
• Spanish: bola (es) f

Verb

boule (third-person singular simple present boules, present participle bouling, simple past and past participle bouled)

1. (transitive, cooking, rare, nonstandard) To shape (a piece of dough) into a ball.

Translations

Shape a piece of dough into a ball

• Spanish: bolear (es)

Etymology 2

Alteration of Boulle. See buhl.

Noun

boule (usually uncountable, plural boules)

1. (woodworking) Alternative form of buhl.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Ancient Greek βουλή (boulḗ).

Noun

boule (plural boules)

1. (historical) A council of citizens in Ancient Greece

Related terms

• bouleuterion
• bouleutes

Translations

Translations

• Italian: bulè (it) f

Anagrams

• Lobue

Czech

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbou̯lɛ]
• Rhymes: -oulɛ

Noun

boule f (diminutive bulka)

1. bulge, protuberance
2. bump, swelling

Declension

Declension of boule (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	boule	boule
genitive	boule	boulí
dative	bouli	boulím
accusative	bouli	boule
vocative	boule	boule
locative	bouli	boulích
instrumental	boulí	boulemi

Further reading

• “boule”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “boule”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “boule”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bul/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ul

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Latin bullader.?

Frankish *bollāder.?

Old French bole

Middle French boule

French boule

Inherited from Middle French boule, from Old French bole (“knob”), from either Latin bulla (“bubble”), in which case it is a doublet of bulle (which was borrowed later); or from Frankish *bollā (“ball, bun, bowl, cup”), in which case it is a doublet of bol.

Noun

boule f (plural boules)

1. ball, globe
2. bowl (in the game of bowls)

   Il jette la boule. ― He throws the bowl.

3. scoop (for example, of ice cream)

   2 boules de glace. ― 2 scoops of ice cream

4. bauble
5. (informal) head or face
6. (France, slang) ball, testicle
7. (Quebec, slang) tit, breast

Derived terms

• avoir les boules
• bougie à boule
• boule à thé
• boule à zéro
• boule de cristal
• boule de démolition
• boule de feu
• boule de geisha
• boule de mammouth
• boule de neige
• boule de quille
• boule puante
• boule Quies
• boulette
• bouleverser
• bouliste
• coup de boule
• film de boules
• foutre les boules
• machine à boule
• mystère et boule de gomme
• perdre la boule
• suce-boules

Descendants

• → English: boule

Noun

boule m (plural boules)

1. (slang) butt, bum, ass

   Cette meuf a un bon boule.

   This girl has a great ass.

Etymology 2

Verb

boule

1. inflection of bouler:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “boule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French brûler (“to burn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buˈle/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

boule

1. to burn

Derived terms

• n'ap boule

References

• Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael (1993), Haitian Creole-English Dictionary‎^[1], Dunwoody Press, →ISBN, page 31

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

boule f (plural boules)

1. (Jersey, nautical) buoy

Derived terms

• boule d'sauvetage (“life belt”)

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbo.ule]

Noun

boule m

1. vocative singular of bou