v. Obs. Also 4 bulne, boln, 5 ? bollen, 6 boulne. [ME. bolne(n, a. Da. bolne:—ON. bolgna (Sw. bulna) to swell (intr.); inchoative of belg-, pa. pple. bolg-en, to inflate. (The pa. pple. bolnun mixes up bolned with BOLLEN.)]
1. intr. To swell.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6011. Bile and blister, bolnand sare.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom. (1862), 25. The first dai sal al the se Boln and ris.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 12531 (Fairf.). A nedder … stanged Iam in his riȝt hande … He bulned grete.
1468. in Cath. Angl., 36. Tumeo, to bolnyn.
1530. Palsgr., 460/1. Se howe this toode bolneth.
1576. T. Newton, trans. Lemnie’s Complex. (1633), 132. Immoderately to bolne, swell, and therewith thorowly to bee cloyed.
2. fig. To swell with pride, anger, etc.
c. 1375. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 266. Þe fifþe condicioun of þis love is þat, it bolneþ not bi pride. Ibid. (1382), 1 Cor. v. 2. And ȝe ben bolnun with pride.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., V. i. 480. Bolned with witt of his fleisch.
3. trans. To cause to swell; to inflate; also fig.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, i. 5. Pride, that heghis & bolnes thaim as wynd dos.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Confess., Wks. (1880), 327. Mannes kunnyng bolniþ hym bi pride.
