hollow

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A small valley between mountains.

   • He built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Rockies.
   • c. 1710–20, Matthew Prior, The First Hymn Of Callimachus: To Jupiter Forests grew upon the barren hollows.
   • This road leads through a sandy hollow shaded by trees for about a quarter of a mile, where it crosses the bridge famous in goblin story, and just beyond swells the green knoll on which stands the whitewashed church.
2. 2

   A sunken area on a surface.

   • He held the chick in the hollow of his hand.
3. 3

   An unfilled space in something solid

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

   • a hollow in a tree trunk
4. ›+ 12 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A feeling of emptiness.

      • a hollow in the pit of one’s stomach
   2. 5

      to make a hole in something

      to make a hole in something; to excavate

   3. 6

      Having an empty space or cavity inside.

      • a hollow tree; a hollow sphere
   4. 7

      Distant, eerie

      Distant, eerie; echoing, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched.

      • He let out a hollow moan.
      • Through thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle:
   5. 8

      Without substance

      Without substance; having no real or significant worth; meaningless.

      • a hollow victory
   6. 9

      Insincere, devoid of validity

      Insincere, devoid of validity; specious.

      • a hollow promise
      • "Hey, if anything happens to that, my ass is grass," Y.T. says. She's trying to sound tough and brave, but it's a hollow act in these circumstances.
   7. 10

      Concave

      Concave; gaunt; sunken.

      • To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
   8. 11

      Pertaining to hollow body position

   9. 12

      Synonym of empty (“lacking between the onset of tasting and the finish”).

      • 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.
   10. 13

       Completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.

   11. 14

       To call or urge by shouting

       To call or urge by shouting; to hollo.

       • [T]he Converſation (if it may be called ſo) was ſeldom ſuch as could entertain a Lady. It conſiſted chiefly of Hollowing, Singing, Relations of ſporting Adventures, B—d—y, and Abuſe of Women and of the Government.
       • He has hollowed the hounds.
   12. 15

       Alternative form of hollo.

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