SALLOW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sallow mean? 

• SALLOW (noun)
  The noun SALLOW has 1 sense:

1. any of several Old World shrubby broad-leaved willows having large catkins; some are important sources for tanbark and charcoal

  Familiarity information: SALLOW used as a noun is very rare.

• SALLOW (adjective)
  The adjective SALLOW has 1 sense:

1. unhealthy looking

  Familiarity information: SALLOW used as an adjective is very rare.

• SALLOW (verb)
  The verb SALLOW has 1 sense:

1. cause to become sallow

  Familiarity information: SALLOW used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SALLOW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several Old World shrubby broad-leaved willows having large catkins; some are important sources for tanbark and charcoal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("sallow" is a kind of...):

willow; willow tree (any of numerous deciduous trees and shrubs of the genus Salix)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sallow"):

florist's willow; goat willow; pussy willow; Salix caprea (much-branched Old World willow having large catkins and relatively large broad leaves)

Holonyms ("sallow" is a member of...):

genus Salix; Salix (a large and widespread genus varying in size from small shrubs to large trees: willows)

• SALLOW (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unhealthy looking

Synonyms:

sallow; sickly

Similar:

unhealthy (not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind)

Derivation:

sallowness (a sickly yellowish skin color)

• SALLOW (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sallow    ... he / she / it sallows   
Past simple: sallowed   
Past participle: sallowed   
-ing form: sallowing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to become sallow

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The illness has sallowed her face

Hypernyms (to "sallow" is one way to...):

discolor (cause to lose or change color)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

His eyes twinkled, and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Two young ladies appeared before me; one very tall, almost as tall as Miss Ingram—very thin too, with a sallow face and severe mien.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He was a dark, sallow, clean-shaven, silent person, but he had polite manners and a pleasant smile.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had a thin awkward figure, a sallow skin without colour, dark lank hair, and strong features—so much for her person; and not less unpropitious for heroism seemed her mind.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Looking round, the wayfarers saw a gaunt, big-boned man, with sunken cheeks and a sallow face, who had come up behind them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His features were peaky and sallow, and his little pointed beard was thready and ill-nourished.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The valet had shrunk into the dark corner of the room, and had remained so motionless that we had forgotten his presence until, upon this appeal from his former master, he took a step forward into the light, turning his sallow face in our direction.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a gaunt, sallow young man, with hollow cheeks, and a chin almost as black as Mr. Murdstone's; but there the likeness ended, for his whiskers were shaved off, and his hair, instead of being glossy, was rusty and dry.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Her complexion was sallow; and her features small, without beauty, and naturally without expression; but a lucky contraction of the brow had rescued her countenance from the disgrace of insipidity, by giving it the strong characters of pride and ill nature.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

As every person called up made exactly the same appearance he had done in the world, it gave me melancholy reflections to observe how much the race of human kind was degenerated among us within these hundred years past; how the pox, under all its consequences and denominations had altered every lineament of an English countenance; shortened the size of bodies, unbraced the nerves, relaxed the sinews and muscles, introduced a sallow complexion, and rendered the flesh loose and rancid.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)