Word
tillow
Phoneticstil·low
Definition
n. a twig, shoot, or branch growing out from the base or root of a plant. It's an old, regional word — today people usually just say 'shoot' or 'sprout'.
n. A regional and dialectal noun for a twig, shoot, or sucker springing from a plant's root or stump; an alternative form of tiller.
Examples
“A new tillow was growing from the old stump.”
“By spring, several tillows had pushed up from the base of the hedge.”
“The old gardener pointed out each tillow rising from the coppiced stool, explaining how the tree would regrow from its own roots.”
Examples
simple
“A new tillow was growing from the old stump.”
contextual
“By spring, several tillows had pushed up from the base of the hedge.”
complex
“The old gardener pointed out each tillow rising from the coppiced stool, explaining how the tree would regrow from its own roots.”
Etymology
From Old English telga and telge ("twig, branch, shoot"), surviving into Middle English as tilwe, telwe, and telghe. The modern form tiller preserves the same root.
From Old English telgian ("to put forth branches"), from Proto-West Germanic telgōn, tilgijan ("to branch, sprout, produce"). The Middle English forms tilwen, telwien, *telȝen show the sound changes in transit.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/tillow