hollow

English Online Dictionary. What means hollow‎? What does hollow mean?

English

Alternative forms

• hallow
• holler (nonstandard: dialectal, especially Southern US)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒl.əʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑ.loʊ/
  • (Southern US, Appalachia) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑlɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɒləʊ

Etymology 1

From Middle English holow, holowe, holwe, holwȝ, holgh, from Old English holh (“a hollow”), from Proto-West Germanic *holh, from Proto-Germanic *hulhwą, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ḱólḱwos. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) Cognate with Old High German huliwa and hulwa, Middle High German hülwe. Related to hole.

Noun

hollow (plural hollows)

1. (geography) A small valley between mountains.
   • c. 1710–20, Matthew Prior, The First Hymn Of Callimachus: To Jupiter

     Forests grew upon the barren hollows.
2. A sunken area on a surface.

3. An unfilled space in something solid; a cavity, natural or artificial.

4. (figuratively) A feeling of emptiness.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

hollow (third-person singular simple present hollows, present participle hollowing, simple past and past participle hollowed)

1. (transitive) to make a hole in something; to excavate

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle English holowe, holwe, holuȝ, holgh, from the noun (see above).

Adjective

hollow (comparative hollower, superlative hollowest)

1. (of something solid) Having an empty space or cavity inside.

2. (of a sound) Distant, eerie; echoing, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched.
3. (figuratively) Without substance; having no real or significant worth; meaningless.

4. (figuratively) Insincere, devoid of validity; specious.

5. Concave; gaunt; sunken.
6. (gymnastics) Pertaining to hollow body position
7. (oenology) Synonym of empty (“lacking between the onset of tasting and the finish”)
   • 2002, Robert M. Parker (Jr.), ‎Pierre-Antoine Rovani, Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide (page 175)

     While most 1974s remain hard, tannic, hollow wines lacking ripeness, flesh, and character, a number of the Graves estates did produce surprisingly spicy, interesting wines.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

hollow (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.

Etymology 3

Compare holler.

Verb

hollow (third-person singular simple present hollows, present participle hollowing, simple past and past participle hollowed)

1. To call or urge by shouting; to hollo.

Interjection

hollow

1. Alternative form of hollo

References

• “hollow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.