Definition of "bow"

bow¹

/bəʊ/

noun
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.
  Quotations
  I do set my bow in the cloud.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 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.
  Quotations
  […] 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. (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 saddletree.
12. The part of a key that is not inserted into the lock and that is used to turn the key.
13. Either of the two handles of a pair of scissors.
verb
third-person singular simple present bows, present participle bowing, simple past and past participle bowed
1. To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.
2. (intransitive) To become bent or curved.
  Quotations
  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, […], Psalms 62:3
3. (transitive) To make something bend or curve.
  Quotations
  […] as when we bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their naturall ſtraitneſſe.
  1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter I, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], book II, page 32
  The whole nation […] bowed their necks to the worst kind of tyranny.
  1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […]
4. (transitive, figurative) To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend, figuratively; to turn; to incline.
  Quotations
  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
  not to bow and bias their opinionsThe spelling has been modernized.
  1655, Thomas Fuller, edited by James Nichols, The Church History of Britain, […], new edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837
5. (transitive, figurative) To humble or subdue, to make submit.
  Quotations
  Know thou the secret of a spiritBow’d from its wild pride into shame.
  1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems

bow²

/baʊ/

verb
third-person singular simple present bows, present participle bowing, simple past and past participle bowed
1. (intransitive) To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.
  Quotations
  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."
  1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M. Hill Co.
  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.
  1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. (transitive and intransitive) To debut.
  Quotations
  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 39, number 26, December 22, 2010 – January 11, 2011, page 1
3. (intransitive) To defer (to something).
4. (transitive) To give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.
  Quotations
  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 the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 302
noun
plural bows
1. A gesture, usually showing respect, made by inclining the head or bending forward at the waist; a reverence

bow³

/baʊ/

noun
plural bows
1. (nautical) The front of a boat or ship.
  Quotations
  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.
  1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 6, in The Dust of Conflict‎
2. (rowing) The rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.

bow⁴

noun
plural bows
1. Obsolete spelling of bough
  Quotations
  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.
  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, [Act V, scene i], page 17, column 1
  [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. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […]; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969,

bow⁵

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

Definition of "bow"

bow1

noun

Quotations

Quotations

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

bow2

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

noun

bow3

noun

Quotations

bow4

noun

Quotations

bow5

noun

bow¹

bow²

bow³

bow⁴

bow⁵