boule

noun

1. One of the bowls used in the French game of boules.

   “Wani had been wet about the game until he turned out to be good at it, and now he was absorbed and unironical, tripping after the ball, yapping and grinning when he bombed the other boules away from the jack-ball, or cochonnet.”

2. A single-crystal ingot produced by synthetic means.
3. A round loaf of bread.
4. A round piece of dough.
5. A through-sawn log with the slices restacked in the order and orientation they originally had in the log, usually with waney edges.

   “Behind him is lumber 'sawn in the boule.' Wood is more commonly sawn in this manner in Europe and is stacked in the order it comes from the log.”

   “Specialty lumber dealers can cut and sticker a log "in the boule," so that boards hold the same relative position they had before milling”

   “A live-sawn log kept as a unit is known as a boule”

   “IN THE BOULE. If you work with whole logs, allocate enough space for storing flitch-cut planks in the order they were sawn. Their sheer bulk helps keep them flat, and stacking in order makes sequential matching for color and grain much easier”

6. (alt-of, alternative, uncountable, usually)Alternative form of buhl.
7. (historical)A council of citizens in Ancient Greece

verb

1. (nonstandard, rare, transitive)To shape (a piece of dough) into a ball.