boulder

[bohl-der] /ˈboʊl dər/
noun
1.
a detached and rounded or worn rock, especially a large one.
Also, bowlder.
Origin
1610-20; short for boulder stone; Middle English bulderston < Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish bullersten big stone (in a stream), equivalent to buller rumbling noise (< Old Swedish bulder) + sten stone
Related forms
bouldered, adjective
bouldery, adjective
Can be confused
bolder, boulder.
boulder, cobblestone, granule, pebble, rock, stone.

Boulder

[bohl-der] /ˈboʊl dər/
noun
1.
a city in N Colorado.
Examples from the web for boulder
  • The basin area is underlain by the quartz monzonite of the boulder batholith.
  • boulder city also houses a small, satellite campus of the college of southern nevada.
British Dictionary definitions for boulder

boulder

/ˈbəʊldə/
noun
1.
a smooth rounded mass of rock that has a diameter greater than 25cm and that has been shaped by erosion and transported by ice or water from its original position
2.
(geology) a rock fragment with a diameter greater than 256 mm and thus bigger than a cobble
Derived Forms
bouldery, adjective
Word Origin
C13: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Swedish dialect bullersten, from Old Swedish bulder rumbling + stenstone
Word Origin and History for boulder
n.

1670s, variant of Middle English bulder (c.1300), from a Scandinavian source akin to Swedish dialectal bullersten "noisy stone" (large stone in a stream, causing water to roar around it), from bullra "to roar" + sten "stone." Or the first element might be from *buller- "round object," from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE *bhel- (2) "to inflate, swell" (see bole).