willow

n. any of a number of deciduous trees having long flexible branches; cricket bat (made from the wood of a willow); machine with a spiked drum used for cleaning and loosening fibers (especially cotton and wool fibers)

v. (Weaving) loosen and clean fibers with a willow machine (especially wool and cotton fibers)

Willows (Salix) are a genus of around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Some of the shrub and smaller tree species may also be known by the common names osier and sallow; the latter name is derived from the same root as the Latin salix. Some willows, particularly arctic and alpine species, are very small; the Dwarf Willow (Salix herbacea) rarely exceeds 6 cm in height, though spreading widely across the ground.
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Willow /wil·low/ any plant of the genus Salix. White willow bark contains a precursor of salicylic acid and is used as an herbal remedy. [more]Willow - Community and Resources

Noun
1. any of numerous deciduous trees and shrubs of the genus Salix
(synonym) willow tree
(hypernym) tree
(hyponym) osier
(member-holonym) Salix, genus Salix
2. a textile machine having a system of revolving spikes for opening and cleaning raw textile fibers
(hypernym) textile machine

(v. t.)
To open and cleanse, as cotton, flax, or wool, by means of a willow. See Willow, n., 2.
  

(n.)
Any tree or shrub of the genus Salix, including many species, most of which are characterized often used as an emblem of sorrow, desolation, or desertion. "A wreath of willow to show my forsaken plight." Sir W. Scott. Hence, a lover forsaken by, or having lost, the person beloved, is said to wear the willow.
  

(n.)
A machine in which cotton or wool is opened and cleansed by the action of long spikes projecting from a drum which revolves within a box studded with similar spikes; -- probably so called from having been originally a cylindrical cage made of willow rods, though some derive the term from winnow, as denoting the winnowing, or cleansing, action of the machine. Called also willy, twilly, twilly devil, and devil.