English
bow
see also: Bow, BOW, BoW
Etymology 1

From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô.

Cognate with Western Frisian boge, Dutch boog, German Bogen, Swedish båge.

Pronunciation Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
  2. A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
  3. A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
  4. A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.
  5. A type of knot with two loops, used to tie together two cords such as shoelaces or apron strings, and frequently used as decoration, such as in gift-wrapping.
  6. Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis 9:13 ↗:
      I do set my bow in the cloud.
  7. The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
  8. Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.
  9. Any instrument consisting of an elastic rod, with ends connected by a string, employed for giving reciprocating motion to a drill, or for preparing and arranging hair, fur, etc., used by hatters.
  10. (nautical) A crude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
  11. (saddlery) Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddle tree.
  12. The part of a key that is not inserted into the lock and that is used to turn the key.
    Coordinate term: blade
  13. Either of the two handles of a pair of scissors.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

bow (bows, present participle bowing; simple past and past participle bowed)

  1. To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.
    The musician bowed his violin expertly.
  2. (intransitive) To become bent or curved.
    The shelf bowed under the weight of the books.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Psalms 62:3 ↗:
      How long wil ye imagine mischiefe against a man? ye shall be slaine all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.
  3. (transitive) To make something bend or curve.
    • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter I, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC ↗, book II, page 32 ↗:
      […] as when we bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their naturall ſtraitneſſe.
    • 1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […], →OCLC ↗:
      The whole nation […] bowed their necks to the worst kind of tyranny.
  4. (transitive, figurative) To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend, figuratively; to turn; to incline.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Atheism”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC ↗:
      Adversities do more bow men's minds to religion.
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC ↗:
      not to bow and bias their opinions
  5. (transitive, figurative) To humble or subdue, to make submit.
Translations
  • German: streichen
  • Portuguese: tocar (com arco)
Translations Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English bowen, buwen, buȝen, from Old English būgan, from Proto-West Germanic *beugan, from Proto-Germanic *beuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ-.

Pronunciation Verb

bow (bows, present participle bowing; simple past and past participle bowed)

  1. (intransitive) To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.
    • 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC ↗:
      The soldier now blew upon a green whistle, and at once a young girl, dressed in a pretty green silk gown, entered the room. She had lovely green hair and green eyes, and she bowed low before Dorothy as she said, "Follow me and I will show you your room."
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.
    That singer always bows towards her audience for some reason.
  2. (transitive and intransitive) To debut.
    • 1979, Bruce Cassiday, Dinah!: A Biography, page 115:
      The show bowed in the first week of December, 1951. Dinah was ready, and so were the technicians who put on her makeup […]
    • 2010 (publication date), Kara Krekeler, "Rebuilding the opera house", West End Word, volume 39, number 26, December 22, 2010 – January 11, 2011, page 1:
      SCP recently announced that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will bow on the newly renovated stage next December.
  3. (intransitive) To defer (to something).
    I bow to your better judgement in the matter.
  4. (transitive) To give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.
Translations Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. A gesture, usually showing respect, made by inclining the head or bending forward at the waist; a reverence
    He made a polite bow as he entered the room.
Translations Etymology 3

From Middle English bowe, bowgh, a borrowing from Middle Low German bôch and/or Middle Dutch boech, from Proto-Germanic *bōguz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵʰus.

Pronunciation Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. (nautical) The front of a boat or ship.
    • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 6, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC ↗:
      The night was considerably clearer than anybody on board her desired when the schooner Ventura headed for the land. It rose in places, black and sharp against the velvety indigo, over her dipping bow, though most of the low littoral was wrapped in obscurity.
  2. (rowing) The rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Etymology 4

See bough.

Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. Obsolete spelling of bough
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene i], page 17 ↗, column 1:
      Where the Bee ſucks, there ſuck I, / In a Cowſlips bell, I lie, / There I cowch when Owles doe crie, / On the Batts backe I doe flie / after Sommer merrily. / Merrily, merrily, ſhall I liue now / Vnder the bloſſom that hangs on the Bow.
    • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter VII, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC ↗; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 154 ↗:
      [Y]ou are to faſten that line to any bow neer to a hole where a Pike is, or is likely to lye, or to have a haunt, […]
Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. Alternative form of bao; any of several Chinese buns and breads
Bow
Pronunciation
  • (UK (places)) IPA: /bəʊ/
Proper noun
  1. Surname.
  2. A place name:
    1. A suburb of eastern London (OS grid ref TQ3782).
    2. A village/and/civil parish in Mid Devon (OS grid ref SS7201).
    3. A hamlet in Ashprington, South Hams (OS grid ref SX8156).
    4. A hamlet in Stanford in the Vale, Vale of White Horse (OS grid ref SU3494).
    5. An unincorporated community in Cumberland County, Kentucky.
    6. A town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire.
    7. An unincorporated commmunity in Skagit County, Washington.
BOW
Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. (computational linguistics) Init of bag of words
    Alternative form: BoW
BoW
Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. (computational linguistics) Alt case form of BOW


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