boulder

CEFRC1

/ˈbəʊl.də(ɹ)/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A large rounded rock.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A large marble, in children's games.

Examples

  • Mr Sato was standing on top of a boulder.

  • The catapult hurled the boulder over the castle walls.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3

Also pronounced

  • /ˈboʊldɚ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A particle greater than 256 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale

  2. A large mass of stone detached from the surrounding land.

  3. A session of bouldering; involvement in bouldering.

More examples

In context

  • There were four sizes of marbles and we called them boulders, biggies, regulars, and teenies.

  • He bouldered a route in the same area with ease. Mitchell, 11, was hanging with the older kids in an area where bouldering nearly upside down seemed to be....

  • There's even old climbing hardware in it because people bouldered on it for years.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The hikers had to climb around a massive blank that blocked the narrow mountain trail.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From late Middle English bulder, short for Middle English bulder ston (“a stone that's been worn into a round shape, boulder, cobblestone”), possibly from Old Swedish *buldersten, itself possibly from Old Swedish bulder (“rumble, noise”) + sten (“stone”); whence dialectal Swedish bullersten (“large stone in a stream, causing water to roar around it”). The first element may alternatively be allied to Old Swedish bulle, bolle (“round drinking vessel, tumbler”), from Old Norse bolli, related to Old English bolla (“round object, bowl”), see English bowl.