bole

Etymology 1

From Middle English bole, from Old Norse bolr, akin to Danish bul and German Bohle (“plank”). See also bulwark (“defensive wall”).

noun

1. The trunk or stem of a tree.
   Enormous elm-tree boles did stoop and lean / Upon the dusky brushwood underneath / Their broad curved branches, fledged with clearest green, / New from its silken sheath. 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “A Dream of Fair Women”, in Poems, volume 1, page 188

Etymology 2

Ancient Greek βῶλος (bôlos, “clod or lump of earth”): compare French bol. Doublet of bolus.

noun

1. Any of several varieties of friable earthy clay, usually coloured red by iron oxide, and composed essentially of hydrous silicates of alumina, or more rarely of magnesia.
   Good Iznik has strong colours well-contained within their outlines and a very clean, clear white. The red colour, made with Armenian bole (an earthy clay) should be thick and proud of the surface. 14 April 2018, “8 things to know about İznik pottery”, in Christie's
2. (colour) The shade of reddish brown which resembles this clay.
   bole:
3. (obsolete) A bolus; a dose.
   […]or else[…]the churches were very incurious to swallow such a bole, if no pretension could have been reasonably made for their justification. 1649, Jeremy Taylor, “An Apology for Authorized and Set Forms of Liturgy Against the Pretence of the Spirit”, in Charles Page Eden, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., volume V, published 1849, page 294

Etymology 3

noun

1. Alternative form of boll (old unit of measure).

Etymology 4

noun

1. (Scotland) An aperture with a shutter in the wall of a house, to admit air or light.
   "Open the bole," said the old woman firmly and hastily to her daughter-in-law, “open the bole wi' speed, that I may see if this be the right Lord Geraldin[…]. 1816, Walter Scott, The Antiquary, Adam and Charles Black, published 1862, page 220
2. (Scotland) A small closet.