Bowled

How to spell bowled

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce bowled

What does bowled mean?

1. verbRolled or delivered a ball, as in lawn bowls or ten-pin bowling.
2. verbDismissed a batsman by delivering a ball that hit the wicket.
3. verbKnocked over or, figuratively, completely overwhelmed and amazed.

Bowled in a sentence

• He bowled the heavy ball straight down the centre of the lane.

• The visiting captain bowled the opening batsman with the very first delivery.

• She was completely bowled over by the generous job offer.

• She bowled a perfect strike to win the office tournament.

• He was bowled middle stump and trudged back to the pavilion.

• The cyclist was bowled over by a careless pedestrian on the path.

Where does bowled come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense of the verb 'to bowl', which traces back through Middle English 'bowle' to the Old French 'boule', meaning 'ball'. The French word in turn came from the Latin 'bulla', which literally meant 'bubble' or any small rounded object, the same root that gives us 'bulletin' and the papal 'bull'. The sense of rolling a rounded ball along the ground gave English the games of lawn bowls and ten-pin bowling, and from the same idea cricket borrowed the action of a bowler delivering the ball at the wicket. The spelling trap is the silent 'w' and the cluster '-owled', because the word sounds exactly like 'bold', tempting writers to drop letters. Keeping the 'bowl' root visible is the safest way to remember the full spelling.

How the word is built

• bowl (a ball, from Latin bulla: rounded object)
• -ed (past tense)

Words that sound like bowled

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• bold: Showing a willingness to take risks; confident and courageous.