boule

1 of 2

noun (1)

ˈbül 

plural boules

1

: a round, usually crusty loaf of bread

A big seller at Breadsmith … is the French boule, a solid lump of round bread, golden and slightly textured on the outside, soft and chewy in the middle. It works well as a bowl—slice off the top, hollow out its middle, and fill it with soup, chili or cheese fondue.

—Jennifer Lowe

Most people think of French bread only as long, slender loaves, but it is also commonly made into round loaves (boules) and dinner rolls …

—Reader's Digest Crafts & Hobbies

2

a

usually plural in form but singular in construction : a bowling game of French origin in which a player standing within a circle placed or scratched on the ground throws or rolls usually steel balls down a long typically dirt or gravel court to stop as close as possible to a smaller target ball : petanque

Outside, on the groomed grounds, old generals from a different war played boules, the French game of lawn bowling.

—William Prochnau

When we say boules, we should more properly be using the word pétanque, derived from the French for "feet anchored".

—Guy Walters

b

: the ball thrown or rolled in boules

… everyone knows the bowling game, which is similar to Italian boccie but played with baseball-sized … steel balls (boules) on dirt courts.

—Barbara Jepson

3

: a synthetically formed mass (as of sapphire) with the atomic structure of a single crystal

4

: a game similar to roulette in which a ball is put in motion in a bowl and players bet on the numbered compartment it will come to rest in

boule

2 of 2

noun (2)

bou·​le ˈbü-(ˌ)lē  bü-ˈlā 

plural boules

: a legislative council of ancient Greece consisting first of an aristocratic advisory body and later of a representative senate

Examples of boule in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The nine-inch blade was plenty long for most loaves of bread, but wider boules were tricky to cut all the way across without having to angle the knife. —Jesse Raub, Bon Appétit, 2 Dec. 2024

Indeed, stars such as Muhammad Ali, Yves Montand and Lino Ventura have all played a round of boules in the main square outside the Café de la Place. —Alexandra Zagalsky, theweek, 1 Nov. 2024

The girls play a game of boules (which is English for bocce) with the guys, and the losers have to jump into the pool. —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 15 Apr. 2024

Anderson’s classic boules are as shapely and golden as any, but his most eye-catching bakes blend traditional sourdough techniques with bold spices and unexpected ingredients. —The Bon Appétit Staff & Contributors, Bon Appétit, 13 Mar. 2024

The baguettes and boules, piled in a bakery window, do seem pointedly rubbery — the props of a Potemkin prosperity. —Sophia Nguyen, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2024

New York is saturated with glitzy pastry chefs turning out croissants and sourdough boules—but Librae, with its genre-bending flavors and manifold influences, emerges from the pack as the rare bakery with something new to say. —The Bon Appétit Staff & Contributors, Bon Appétit, 13 Mar. 2024

Below, men and women, boys and girls played boules; others played soccer. —Peter Heller, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Jan. 2024

To form a boule, pure silicon has to be heated in a special crucible to twenty-seven hundred degrees Fahrenheit. —Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

borrowed from French, "ball," going back to Middle French — more at bowl entry 2

Note: In sense 1 the French word is short for boule de pain, literally, "ball of bread."

Noun (2)

Greek boulē, literally, "will," from boulesthai "to wish"

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1911, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Noun (2)

1840, in the meaning defined above