boulder
pronunciation
How to pronounce boulder in British English:
UK [ˈbəʊldə(r)]
How to pronounce boulder in American English:
US [ˈboʊldə(r)]
-
- Noun:
- a large smooth mass of rock detached from its place of origin
Word Origin
- boulder
- boulder: [13] Boulder is an abbreviated form of the original compound noun boulder-stone, which was a partial translation of a Scandinavian word which survives in Swedish dialect bullersten ‘large stone in a stream’. Sten is ‘stone’, of course, and buller is usually identified with Swedish buller ‘rumbling noise’, on the basis presumably of the sound of a stream gurgling over rocks. Boulder first appears on its own, outside the compound boulder-stone, in the 17th century.
- boulder (n.)
- 1670s, variant of Middle English bulder (c. 1300), from a Scandinavian source akin to Swedish dialectal bullersten "noisy stone" (large stone in a stream, causing water to roar around it), from bullra "to roar" + sten "stone." Or the first element might be from *buller- "round object," from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE *bhel- (2) "to inflate, swell" (see bole).
Example
- 1. That in turn leaves men such as mr hullinghorst in boulder feeling distinctly cynical and alarmed .
- 2. The fund he had chosen turned out to be holding lehman paper and boulder lost almost $ 7 00000 .
- 3. The findings indicate that physical warmth unconsciously stimulates friendly behavior toward other people , according to marketing professor lawrence williams of the university of colorado at boulder .
- 4. 1 Missing still buried in the rolling boulder , almost no hope of survival .
- 5. Before finally slamming to a stop up against a boulder .