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# bough

«bough» in Mova's school dictionary: **a large, main branch of a tree** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a bough, boughs)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A bough is a large, main branch of a tree. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#m1)

2) It is a slightly old-fashioned or poetic word; in everyday talk people usually say «branch». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories, poems, songs and nursery rhymes, boughs appear often, as in «Rock-a-bye Baby» where «the bough breaks». In science lessons, boughs are the big branches growing out of the trunk. Phrases: «the bough breaks», «boughs of holly», «under the boughs».

### examples

- The children sat in the shade under the boughs of the oak. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#x1)
- When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#x2)
- Snow weighed down the boughs of the pine trees. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#x3)
- «Deck the halls with boughs of holly» is a Christmas carol. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#x4)
- A heavy bough fell in the storm and blocked the lane. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#x5)
- Birds built a nest on the highest bough. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#x6)
- Rotten twigs and dry boughs are they all.” [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/#x7)

### note

Countable noun: a bough, boughs. Pronounced «BOW» to rhyme with «cow» and «now». Homophone trap: «bow» (bend at the waist) sounds the same, but «bow» (for arrows, or a ribbon) rhymes with «go». Do not confuse with «bought» or «cough», which have the same letters «ough» but different sounds.

### In the corpora

- [A bough is a big branch of a tree.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/11/)
- [The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the mighty cedars with the boughs thereof.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1426/)
- [Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.349/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «bough» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bough/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.