English

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Etymology

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From Middle English bolas, bolace, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beloce, buloce (sloe), from Vulgar Latin *bullucea, from Late Latin bulluca (kind of small fruit); of Celtic/Gaulish origin, akin to Celtiberian *bullācā,[1] from Proto-Celtic *bullākā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeHw- (to swell, puff), itself imitative.[2][3] Possibly influenced by Latin galla (oak apple) with metathesis of the consonants.

See also Spanish bugalla (oak apple), Portuguese bugalho, and (the distantly related) Latin bucca.

Noun

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bullace (plural bullaces)

  1. A small European plum (Prunus interstitia, syn. Prunus domestica subsp. insititia).
    Synonym: damson
    • 1930, Harold Webber Freeman, Down in the Valley, page 48:
      If he ate bullace tart and bullace pie for a week, he would hardly empty the smallest of the baskets; and then they would begin to go bad. Nothing remained but to give them away, but to whom?
  2. The bully tree.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ bullace”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
  2. ^ The template Template:R:es:Roberts:2014 does not use the parameter(s):
    1=bugalla
    Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
    Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
  3. ^ MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “bucaid”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language[1], Stirling, →ISBN

Anagrams

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