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hollow
[ hol-oh ]
adjective
- having a space or cavity inside; not solid; empty:
a hollow sphere.
- having a depression or concavity:
a hollow surface.
- sunken, as the cheeks or eyes.
- (of sound) not resonant; dull, muffled, or deep:
a hollow voice.
- without real or significant worth; meaningless:
a hollow victory.
- insincere or false:
hollow compliments.
- hungry; having an empty feeling:
I feel absolutely hollow, so let's eat.
noun
- an empty space within anything; a hole, depression, or cavity.
- a valley:
They took the sheep to graze in the hollow.
- Foundry. a concavity connecting two surfaces otherwise intersecting at an obtuse angle.
verb (used with object)
- to make hollow (often followed by out ):
to hollow out a log.
- to form by making something hollow (often followed by out ):
to hollow a place in the sand;
boats hollowed out of logs.
verb (used without object)
- to become hollow.
adverb
- in a hollow manner:
The politician's accusations rang hollow.
hollow
/ ˈhɒləʊ /
adjective
- having a hole, cavity, or space within; not solid
- having a sunken area; concave
- recessed or deeply set
hollow cheeks
- (of sounds) as if resounding in a hollow place
- without substance or validity
- hungry or empty
- insincere; cynical
- a hollow leg or hollow legsthe capacity to eat or drink a lot without ill effects
adverb
- beat someone hollow informal.to defeat someone thoroughly and convincingly
noun
- a cavity, opening, or space in or within something
- a depression or dip in the land
verb
- to make or become hollow
- to form (a hole, cavity, etc) or (of a hole, etc) to be formed
Derived Forms
- ˈhollowly, adverb
- ˈhollowness, noun
Other Words From
- hol·low·ly adverb
- hol·low·ness noun
- half-hol·low adjective
- un·hol·low adjective
- un·hol·lowed adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of hollow1
Idioms and Phrases
- beat all hollow, to surpass or outdo completely: Also beat hollow.
His performance beat the others all hollow.
More idioms and phrases containing hollow
see beat the pants off (hollow) .Example Sentences
Even our hospitals are being taken over and hollowed out by Wall Street.
For some, the announcement back in March that he would pick a woman started to ring hollow the longer the search dragged on.
These hornets nest in hollow trees and cozy nooks within walls.
He liked to play in a hollow tree where insect-eating bats used to live.
The explanation for these landmines mainly related to the use of hollow cast iron balls that were presumably filled with gunpowder.
The young man weaves through clusters of bamboo and cuts a diagonal slash into a tree, positioning a hollow log at the end.
But Byrne himself is the parodist, and he commands the stage by his hollow-eyed, frosty verve.
He pressed a hollow shell casing into my palm and leaned towards my ear, “I PICKED IT UP FROM THE BEDROOM!”
It will always ring hollow when people try to turn it into a product—no matter how much Bill Clinton gushes over it.
Last year Fox gifted the world with the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” retelling we never knew we needed.
The next instruments discovered in use among the Indians were straight, hollow reeds and forked canes.
It lit up every ridge and hollow for two or three seconds, and showed me four riders tearing up the slope at a high run.
The formula would be: “The pump invented—Drain a well ,” or Water raised in a hollow.
But, just as they were piling some more leaves in the hollow stump, they heard many voices of men shouting in the woods.
That hollow is a very likely place for one of them to run along, therefore the best shot among you had better go up there.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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