bolo

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊ.ləʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊ.loʊ/
• Rhymes: -əʊləʊ

From Philippine Spanish bolo, from Tagalog bolo.

bolo (plural bolos)

1. A long, heavy, single-edged machete.
2. (attributive) A type of punch; an uppercut.
   • 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin, published 2010, page 141:

     He jerked me off balance and the hand with the brass knucks came around in a looping bolo punch.

bolo (third-person singular simple present bolos, present participle boloing, simple past and past participle boloed)

1. (transitive) To cleave or dismember (a person or an animal) with a bolo knife.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “His Own People”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, pages 13–14:

     "In the first place," began Drina, "you are to lie down flat on the floor and creep about and show us how the Moros wriggle through the grass to bolo our sentinels." […] Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.

Supposedly named after Bolo Pascha, a German agent in France during World War I.

bolo (plural bolos)

1. A soldier not capable of the minimum standards of marksmanship.

bolo (third-person singular simple present bolos, present participle boloing, simple past and past participle boloed)

1. To fail to meet the minimum standards of marksmanship.

From Argentine Spanish boleadora (“lariat”).

bolo (plural bolos)

1. A string or leather necktie secured with an ornamental slide.

• bolo tie

bolo (third-person singular simple present bolos, present participle boloing, simple past and past participle boloed)

1. (transitive, nonce word) To dress (somebody) in a bolo.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.

An acronym of Be on the lookout.

• BOLO

bolo (plural bolos)

1. (US law enforcement) A request for law enforcement officers to be on the lookout for a suspect.

• all-points bulletin, APB

• “bolo”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

• Lobo, bloo, bool, lobo, loob, obol

Cognate with Eastern Maninkakan bólo.

bolo

1. (anatomy) arm, hand

• Richard Nci Diarra, Lexique bambara-français-anglais, December 13, 2010

Unknown.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔlo/ [ˈbɔ.lʊ]
• Rhymes: -ɔlo
• Hyphenation: bo‧lo

bolo m (plural bolos)

1. sand lance (Ammodytes)

   Synonym: areeiro

From bola (“piece of bread”), from Latin bulla (“bubble”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbolo/ [ˈbo.lʊ]
• Rhymes: -olo
• Hyphenation: bo‧lo

bolo m (plural bolos)

1. bun, roll
   • 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 129:

     Para esto ual o ouo torrado ataa que se faça duro et depois tollelle a casca et faz tal como bollo

     For this you must use egg, roasted till its hard; remove then the shell and make a roll with it

2. piece of bread
   • 1396, M. Romaní Martínez (ed.), La colección diplomática de Santa María de Oseira (1025-1310). Santiago: Tórculo Edicións, page 449:

     daredes hun dia de seara de cada anno en a nosa granja de Vales, e hun bolo de triigo

     and you'll give a day of work each year at our farm of Vales, and a piece of wheat bread

3. ball of butter

   Synonym: pela

4. lump

   Synonym: grumo

5. clod

   Synonym: terrón

6. pebble

   Synonym: croio

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “bolo”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “bolo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “bolo”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “bolo”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Borrowed from English bowl, French bol, German Bowle, Spanish bol.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbolo/

bolo (plural boli)

1. bowl

From Late Latin bōlus (“clod of earth, lump”), from Ancient Greek βῶλος (bôlos, “clod, lump”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔ.lo/
• Rhymes: -ɔlo
• Hyphenation: bò‧lo

bolo m (plural boli)

1. bolus
2. cud

• lobo, oblò

bolo

1. nonstandard spelling of bala

bolo

1. bream

Chemical element
B	Next: kaboni (C)

From French bore.

bolo class 9 (plural bolo class 10, colloquial plural babolo class 2)

1. (chemistry) boron

• bôlo

From Portuguese bolo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbolu/

bolo

1. alternative form of bôlo: cake

• bôlo bate-pau (“mooncake”)
• bôlo mârmre (“marble cake”)
• bôlo minino
• bôlo nata
• bôlo supiám

• https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese bollo, of unknown origin but traditionally associated with bola (“round seal”).^[1]

• bôlo (pre-reform spelling)

• Rhymes: -olu
• Hyphenation: bo‧lo

bolo m (plural bolos)

1. (cooking) cake
   1. dessert made with dough and sugar; common in celebrations
   2. any of various snacks made with dough, both sweet and salty

      Synonym: bolinho

2. bunch, heap, mass (load of some material or of beings)

   Synonyms: monte, amontoado

   1. a bunch of money
3. prize, reward

   Synonyms: prêmio, recompensa

4. (Brazil) something said or done to mislead or deceive

   Synonyms: enganação, burla

5. (Brazil) disarray, disorder chaos

   Synonyms: desordem, caos, confusão

6. (Brazil, slang) the act of standing someone up (missing an appointment)

   Synonym: furo

• Kabuverdianu: bolu
• Macanese: bôlo
• → Hunsrik: Bolo
• → Malay: baulu
  • Indonesian: bolu

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bolo

1. first-person singular present indicative of bolar

• lobo

• “bolo”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “bolo” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “bolo”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), São Paulo: 7Graus, 2009–2025
• “bolo”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “bolo”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “bolo”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “bolo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

bolo (Cyrillic spelling боло)

1. neuter singular active past participle of bosti

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɔlɔ]

bolo

1. neuter singular l-participle of byť

• IPA^(key): /ˈbolo/ [ˈbo.lo]
• Rhymes: -olo
• Syllabification: bo‧lo

Borrowed from Latin bolus.

bolo m (plural bolos)

1. bowling pin
2. bolus
3. (in the plural) bowling
4. (Mexico) goody bag

bolo (feminine bola, masculine plural bolos, feminine plural bolas)

1. (colloquial, Central America) drunk

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:borracho

Clipping of bolívar.

bolo m (plural bolos)

1. (Venezuela, slang) a bolívar (Venezuelan unit of currency)

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

bolo m (plural bolos)

1. (colloquial) gig

Borrowed from Tagalog bolo.

bolo m (plural bolos)

1. (Philippines) bolo (long, single-edged machete)

• “bolo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• Abella, Venancio María de (1874) Vade-Mecum Filipino ó manual de la conversacion familiar Español-Tagalog. Seguido de un curioso Vocabulario de Modismos Manileños.‎^[1], 12.ᵃ edition (overall work in Spanish and Tagalog), Escolta, Manila: Ramirez y Giraudier, á cargo de C. Miralles., page 113

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

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈbolo/ [ˈboː.lo]
• Rhymes: -olo
• Syllabification: bo‧lo

bolo (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜎᜓ)

1. bolo (long, single-edged machete)

• Bool, loob, lobo, oblo

bolo

1. or

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh