bow

A gesture, usually showing respect, made by inclining the head or bending forward at the waist; a reverence

Interjection

  1. Ellipsis of bow-wow

Origin

Clipping of bow-wow

Noun archery, government

  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.
    • Holonym: bow and arrow
    • Bows come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and cultures, and what is true of one, is not necessarily true of another, so we're gonna be stereotyping here, but, in general, a bow is a way of launching a pointy...
  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.
    • I do set my bow in the cloud. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 9:13:
  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.
    • […] she kept toying with a pair of old sunglasses which lay beside her on the kitchen table. One of the bows had been mended with adhesive tape, and one of the lenses was cracked. - 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:
  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. A crude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
  11. 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 Terms: blade

Origin

From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Booge (“arch, bow, curve”), West Frisian bôge (“arc, arch, bow”), Dutch boog (“arc, arch, bow”), German Bogen (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Luxembourgish Bou (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Vilamovian böga (“arc, arch, bend, bow, curve”), Yiddish בויגן (boygn, “arc, arch, bow, curve”), Danish bue (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Faroese and Icelandic bogi (“arch, bow, vault”), Jamtish buga (“bow”), Norwegian Bokmål bue (“arc, arch, bow”), Norwegian Nynorsk boge (“arc, arch, bow”), Swedish båge (“bow”), Crimean Gothic boga (“bow”).

Forms

bows

Synonyms

arc bend curve fiddlestick musical bow

Hyponyms

composite bow compound bow crossbow longbow recurve bow selfbow shortbow stock-bow Turkish bow

Related

buxom elbow

Derived

another string to one's bow barebow bow and arrow bowbearer bowbent bow bug bow collector bow compass bow drill bow-faced bowfin bow frame bowfront bow-fronted bow grip bow guard bowguard bow harp bowhead bowhunt bowhunter bowhunting bowhuntress Bow Island

Noun nautical, transport

  1. The front of a boat or ship.
    • Holonyms: watercraft < vessel
    • Meronyms: beak, beak, beakhead
    • 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...

    Synonyms: stem forestem fore prow prore

    Antonyms: stern aft poop

  2. The rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.

Origin

PIE word *bʰeh₂ǵʰús 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 (“arm”). Doublet of bough. Cognates Cognate with Dutch boeg (“bow”), German Bug (“bow, prow (of a ship); shoulder joint (of an animal)”), Luxembourgish Buch, Bou (“shoulder joint (of an animal)”), Danish bov (“bow”), Icelandic bógur (“bow”), Norwegian Bokmål baug (“bow”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish bog (“bow; shoulder (of an animal)”).

Forms

bows

Derived

bluff-bowed bow ball bow cap bow chaser bow foil bowgrace bowman bowpicker bow plane bow rail bowrider bow riding bow rudder bow shock bowsman bowswoman bow thruster bow wave hurricane bow midbow on the bow overbow ram bow shot across the bow(s)

Noun Entry 4

  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.

Origin

From Middle English bowen, buwen, buȝen, from Old English būgan, from Proto-West Germanic *beugan, from Proto-Germanic *beuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to bend”). Cognates Cognate with Scots boo, bou (“to bend, bow”), Dutch buigen (“to bow”), German biegen (“to bow”), Low German bugen (“to bow”), Luxembourgish béien (“to bow”), Danish bue (“to curve, arch”), Swedish buga (“to bow”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌿𐌲𐌰𐌽 (biugan, “to bend, bow”).

Forms

bows

Hypernyms

gesture congee congé conge

Noun alt of, obsolete

  1. Obsolete spelling of bough.
    • 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...
    • [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, […] - 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter VII, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation....

Origin

See bough.

Forms

bows

Noun alt of, alternative

  1. Alternative form of bao; any of several Chinese buns and breads

Origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 包 (bāo) or Cantonese 包 (baau1).

Forms

bows bao bau

Noun abbreviation, alt of

  1. Ellipsis of bow-wow

Forms

bows

Verb Entry 8

  1. To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.
    • 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...
    • 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...
    • That singer always bows towards her audience for some reason.
  2. To debut.
    • The show bowed in the first week of December, 1951. Dinah was ready, and so were the technicians who put on her makeup […] - 1979, Bruce Cassiday, Dinah!: A Biography, page 115:
    • SCP recently announced that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will bow on the newly renovated stage next December. - 2010 (publication date), Kara Krekeler, "Rebuilding the opera house", West End Word, volume...
  3. To defer (to something).
    • I bow to your better judgement in the matter.
  4. To give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.
    • “This way, monsieur,” he said, and led the way up the broad, marble staircase. In another moment he had opened a door, and, drawing aside a heavy curtain, obsequiously bowed Tarzan into a dimly lighted apartment. Then...
    • Poirot rose gallantly, bowed her into the seat opposite him. - 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 7, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 124:
    • He saw himself, in a smart suit and a songkok, bowed into the opulent suites of Ritzes and Waldorfs and baring, under dark glasses, a hairy chest to a milder sun by a snakeless sea. - 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in...
  5. To give up or cease resisting.
    • I'll never bow to that tyrant.

Forms

bows bowing bowed

Hypernyms

gesture congee congé conge

Derived

bow and scrape bow down bow down before the porcelain god bow in bowing stone bow out bow to embow imbow make one's bow outbow overbow scrape and bow take a bow unbow upbow

Verb Entry 9

  1. To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.
    • The musician bowed his violin expertly.
  2. To bend or curve, particularly downward.
    • The shelf bowed under the weight of the books.
    • 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. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],...
    • […] as when we bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their naturall ſtraitneſſe. - 1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter I, in The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew]...
  3. To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend or incline, figuratively; to humble or subdue.
    • Adversities do more bow men's minds to religion. - 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Atheism”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
    • not to bow and bias their opinions - 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
    • Know thou the secret of a spirit Bow’d from its wild pride into shame. - 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

Forms

bows bowing bowed

Derived

bowable bower bow up diddley bower

Verb auxiliary

  1. about to

Origin

Clipping of boutta, itself a contraction of about to.

Verb abbreviation, alt of

  1. Ellipsis of bow-wow

Forms

bows bowing bowed

Related

bow chicka wow wow bow diddley diddley bow coll'arco curtsey kowtow throw them bows