trow
UK /tɹəʊ/ · US /tɹoʊ/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms trows trowing trowed Trew
- verb (archaic or dialectal) To trust or believe.
- verb (archaic or dialectal) To have confidence in, or to give credence to.
- noun (archaic or dialectal) Trust or faith.
- noun (dated, nautical, countable) Any of several flat-bottomed sailing boats used for fishing or for carrying bulk goods.
- noun (dated, uncountable) Used chiefly in the expression drop trow.
- proper noun A surname from Middle English.
- proper noun A ghost town in Clark County, Wisconsin, United States.
Etymology
From Middle English trowen, trouwen, treuwen, treowen, trouen, from Old English trēowan, trīewan (“to trust”) and Old English trūwian (“to trust, confide”), from Proto-Germanic *trewwāną (“to trust”) and Proto-Germanic *trūwāną (“to trust”); both from Proto-Indo-European *drew- (“faithful, true”).
Akin to Scots trow, trew (“to believe, trust, confide in, prove”), Dutch trouwen (“to wed, marry”), German trauen (“to trust, marry”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish tro (“to believe, think”), Norwegian Nynorsk tru (“to believe, think”), Icelandic trúa (“to trust, believe, believe in”).
Shortened form of trousers.
From Shetlandic and Orcadian Scots trow, from Norn *drou, *drau (compare 18th c. Norwegian drau, modern drov, drauv), from Old Norse draugr (“malevolent revenant”); along the variation drow, intermixed with Norn troll, from Old Norse trǫll (“troll, malevolent supernatural being”), a partial synonym to draugr. L-vocalisation occurred in the early 15th century in Middle Scots, so trolly, knolls probably became *trowie, knowes around this time.
* A nickname for a trustworthy person, from Middle English trewe (“faithful, loyal”).
* A topographic surname for someone who lived near a depression in the ground, from Middle English trow (“trough”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A boat with an open well amidships. It is used in spearing fish. Knight.
- verb To believe; to trust; to think or suppose. [Archaic]
Etymology [OE. trowen, AS.treówan to trust, believe, fr. treów trust, treówe true, faithful. See True.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “trow”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details