boll

Etymology

From Middle English bolle (“pod; shell”) and Middle Dutch bolle (“round object”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bullô (“round object; bowl”). More at bowl.

noun

1. The rounded seed-bearing capsule of a cotton or flax plant.
   The champion picker of the day before was the hero of the dawn. If he prophesied that the cotton in today’s field was going to be sparse and stick to the bolls like glue, every listener would grunt a hearty agreement. 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 1, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 6
2. A protuberance or excrescence growing on the trunks of some trees, a burl.
3. (Scotland) An old dry measure equal to six bushels.
   I ſowed on this Ground, without any Dung or Manure, a Lippy of Oats, from which I had a Boll wanting a Chopin. 1742, Virgil, “Appendix to the Georgicks”, in James Hamilton, transl., Virgil’s Pastorals Translated into English Prose; as also His Georgicks,[…], Edinburgh: Printed by W. Cheyne,[…]; [s]old by J. Traill and G. Crawford,[…]; and by J. Barry[…], →OCLC, page 43
   The farmers ſervants who have families, and engage by the year, are called hinds, and receive 10 bolls oats, 2 bolls barley, and 1 boll peas, which two laſt articles are called hummel corn, […] 1792, Robert Bowmaker, “Number LI. Parish of Dunse, (County of Berwick.)”, in John Sinclair, editor, The Statistical Account of Scotland. Drawn Up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes, volume IV, Edinburgh: Printed and sold by William Creech [et al.], →OCLC, page 386
   The waggons are deep and square; wider at the top than at the bottom, and are fast at all sides. The bottom has hinges, and can be let down to discharge the coals, of which these waggons contain about three bolls each. 1944 September and October, Charles E. Lee, “An Ancient Underground Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 274, text from early 19th century

verb

1. To form a boll or seed vessel; to go to seed.