bow
1 (bou)
[Middle English boue, probably of Low German origin.]
noun
Nautical- The front section of a ship or boat.
- The oar or the person wielding the oar closest to the bow.
bow
2 (bou)
[Middle English bowen, from Old English būgan.]
verb: bowed, bow·ing, bows.
intransitive verb
- To bend or curve downward; stoop.
- To incline the body or head or bend the knee in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
- To yield in defeat or out of courtesy; submit. See synonyms at yield
transitive verb
- To bend (the head, knee, or body) to express greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
- To convey (greeting, for example) by bending the body.
- To escort deferentially: bowed us into the restaurant.
- To cause to acquiesce; submit.
- To overburden: Grief bowed them down.
noun
- An inclination of the head or body, as in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
phrasal verbs
- bow out
- To remove oneself; withdraw.
idioms
- bow and scrape
- To behave obsequiously.
bow
3 (bō)
[Middle English bowe, from Old English boga.]
noun
- A bent, curved, or arched object.
- A weapon consisting of a curved, flexible strip of material, especially wood, strung taut from end to end and used to launch arrows.
- An archer.
- Archers considered as a group.
- Music A rod having horsehair drawn tightly between its two raised ends, used in playing instruments of the violin and viol families.
- A stroke made by this rod.
- A knot usually having two loops and two ends; a bowknot.
- A frame for the lenses of a pair of eyeglasses.
- The part of such a frame passing over the ear.
- A rainbow.
- An oxbow.
verb: bowed, bow·ing, bows.
transitive verb
- To bend (something) into the shape of a bow.
- Music To play (a stringed instrument) with a bow.
intransitive verb
- To bend into a curve or bow.
- Music To play a stringed instrument with a bow.
