bow
UK /ˈbəʊ̯/ · US /ˈboʊ̯/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of bough
Forms bows bowing bowed bao bau
- noun (archery) A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
- noun A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
- noun (music) A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
- noun A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.
- noun 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.
- noun Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.
- noun The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
- noun Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.
- verb To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow. “The musician bowed his violin expertly.”
- verb (ergative) To bend or curve, particularly downward. “The shelf bowed under the weight of the books.”
- verb (transitive, figurative) To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend or incline, figuratively; to humble or subdue.
- verb (intransitive) To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference. “That singer always bows towards her audience for some reason.”
- verb (transitive and intransitive) To debut.
- verb (intransitive) To defer (to something). “I bow to your better judgement in the matter.”
- verb (transitive) To give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.
- verb (intransitive) To give up or cease resisting. “I'll never bow to that tyrant.”
- noun 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.”
- noun (nautical) The front of a boat or ship.
- noun (rowing) The rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.
- verb about to
Synonyms
fiddlestick musical bow arc bend curve stem forestem fore prow prore bowknot bowing obeisance curtain call bow down submit defer accede give in crouch stoop
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô.
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”).
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”).
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”).
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.
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)”).
Clipping of boutta, itself a contraction of about to.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To cause to deviate from straightness; to bend; to inflect; to make crooked or curved.
- verb To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend, figuratively; to turn; to incline.
- verb To bend; to curve. [Obs.]
- verb To stop. [Archaic]
Etymology [OE. bowen, bogen, bugen, AS. bugan (generally v.i.); akin to D. buigen, OHG. biogan, G. biegen, beugen, Icel. boginn bent, beygja to bend, Sw. böja, Dan. böie, bugne, Coth. biugan; also to L. fugere to flee, Gr. bhuj to bend. sq. root88. Cf. Fugitive.]
Etymology [OE. bowe, boge, AS. boga, fr. AS. bü to bend; akin to D. boog, G. bogen, Icel. bogi. See Bow, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bow”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details