Definition of "low"

low¹

/ˈləʊ/

adjective
comparative lower, superlative lowest
1. Situated close to, or even below, the ground or another normal reference plane; not high or lofty.
  Quotations
  Narrative friezes in low relief were characteristic of Ionic architecture.
  2012, Tyler Jo Smith, Dimitris Plantzos, A Companion to Greek Art
  1. Pertaining to (or, especially of a language: spoken in) in an area which is at a lesser elevation, closer to sea level (especially near the sea), than other regions.
  2. (baseball, of a ball) Below the batter's knees.
2. Of less than normal height or upward extent or growth, or of greater than normal depth or recession; below the average or normal level from which elevation is measured.
  Quotations
  It is a little low hearb […]
  1607 (edition of 1967), Edward Topsell, The history of four-footed beasts
  The men are well-proportioned, rather low than tall, have a brown complexion, and reserved countenance.
  1795, James Cavanah Murphy, Travels in Portugal, page 15
  "Now you mention her, I do remember the young lady," said Mrs. Grantly; "a dark girl, very low, and without much figure. She seemed to me to keep very much in the background."
  1911(?), Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage, page 13
  1. Low-cut.
    Quotations
    Again, observe the unmeaningness of the low neck fashion. Our mothers wore low dresses and bare arms all day long; they knew if their shoulders and arms were beautiful they would look as well by daylight as by candlelight; […]
    1878, Mary Eliza Joy Haweis, The Art of Beauty, London: Chatto & Windus, page 83
    Why do girls wear low dresses?
    1917, George Amos Dorsey, Young Low, page 195
3. Not high in status, esteem, or rank, dignity, or quality. (Compare vulgar.)
  Quotations
  Therefore they must have been common in the 16th century also among the folk first of all not as a high festival food but rather as a low festival and Sunday food, if our experience proves accurate.
  1971, Keystone Folklore Quarterly, volume 16, page 208
  Low-Sunday, is the Sunday after Easter, and is so call'd, because it is a low Festival in Comparison of that Day whereon Christ arose from Death to Life again.
  1720, The Delphick oracle, page 35
4. Humble, meek, not haughty.
  Quotations
  God loves an humble soul. It is not our high birth, but our low hearts God delights in.
  1829, Thomas Watson, Discourses on Important and Interesting Subjects
5. Disparaging; assigning little value or excellence.
  Quotations
  The humble soul has low thoughts of his own person; as David, 'I am a worm, and no man.'
  1826, Ebenezer Erskine, The Whole Works of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, Sermon VII, page 103
6. Being a nadir, a bottom.
  Quotations
  Virginia, for example, reached such a low point in her junior year that she briefly considered suicide [...]
  2012, Faith Hartmann, Only a Fool Would Have Believed It in the First Place
7. Depressed in mood, dejected, sad.
  Quotations
  As low as I felt, at least I didn't have Hunding's [miserable] job.
  2016, Rick Riordan, The Hammer of Thor, page 33
8. Lacking health or vitality, strength or vivacity; feeble; weak.
9. Dead. (Compare lay low.)
  Quotations
  And wilt thou weep when I am low?
  1830, George Gordon Byron Baron Byron, Byron's Poems, page 511
  [L]et the mournful martial music blow; / The last great Englishman is low.
  1852, Alfred Tennyson, “Stanza III”, in Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 6
10. Small, not high (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
  Quotations
  Unfortunately, low winds were the rule over the local waters and this craft was no better, if as good, as ordinary sailboats under such conditions.
  1989, Bernard Smith, Sailloons and Fliptackers: The Limits to High-speed Sailing
  The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
  2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8841, page 68
  1. Having a small or comparatively smaller concentration of (a substance, which is often but not always linked by "in" when predicative).
  2. Depleted, or nearing deletion; lacking in supply.
    Quotations
    When silica is in low supply other classes of algae dominate the phytoplankton composition.
    2002, V.N. Bashkin, Robert W. Howarth, Modern Biogeochemistry, page 151
11. (especially in biology) Simple in complexity or development.
  Quotations
  In the case of languages spoken by very low races, like the Puris and the Tasmanians, the difficulty of deciding such a point must be very great.
  1870, Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches Into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, page 80
12. (chiefly in several set phrases) Favoring simplicity (see e.g. low church, Low Tory).
  Quotations
  Among them there was none more low, more pious, more sincere, or more given to interference. To teach Mr. Worth his duty as a parish clergyman was evidently a necessity to such a bishop.
  1881, Anthony Trollope, Dr. Wortle's School: A Novel, page 6
  […] and give a judgment against not only Denison, but the Church's doctrine; and that, it having once been given, we shall not get it reversed; and that the Church of England will seem to be committed to Low doctrine, which […]
  1889, Reginald Garton Wilberforce, Life of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford and Winchester, page 152
13. (in several set phrases) Being near the equator.
14. (acoustics) Grave in pitch, due to being produced by relatively slow vibrations (wave oscillations); flat.
15. Quiet; soft; not loud.
  Quotations
  Speak low if you speak love.
  1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]
16. (phonetics) Made with a relatively large opening between the tongue and the palate; made with (part of) the tongue positioned low in the mouth, relative to the palate.
17. (card games) Lesser in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.
18. (now rare) Not rich or seasoned; offering the minimum of nutritional requirements; plain, simple.
  Quotations
  The Physicians ordered a low diet, and cooling ptisans in great abundance.
  1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 173
19. (of an automobile, gear, etc) Designed for a slow (or the slowest) speed.
noun
plural lows
1. A low point or position, literally (as, a depth) or or figuratively (as, a nadir, a time when things are at their worst, least, minimum, etc).
  Quotations
  During the 1960s and 1970s, when both the quality of architecture and the appreciation of historic buildings reached an all-time low, British Railways was notorious for replacing good station buildings and canopies with little more than bus shelters, usually in conjunction with de-staffing.
  2020 December 2, Anthony Lambert, “Reimagining Railway Stations”, in Rail, page 38
  He also called for the US and China to rebuild their fractured relationship, which has plunged to new lows this year, but which Guterres said was “crucial” to climate action.
  2022 November 4, Fiona Harvey, “UN chief warns ‘we will be doomed’ without historic climate pact”, in The Guardian‎
  1. The minimum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
2. A period of depression; a depressed mood or situation.
3. (meteorology, informal) An area of low pressure; a depression.
4. The lowest-speed gearing of a power-transmission system, especially of an automotive vehicle.
5. (card games) The lowest trump, usually the deuce; the lowest trump dealt or drawn.
6. (slang, usually accompanied by "the") A cheap, cost-efficient, or advantageous price.
adverb
comparative lower, superlative lowest
1. Close to the ground.
2. Of a pitch, at a lower frequency.
  Quotations
  Can sing both high and low.
  c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iii]
3. With a low voice or sound; not loudly; gently.
  Quotations
  [T]he amorous, odorous wind, / Breathes low between the sunset and the moon, […]
  1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “Eleanore”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 31
4. Under the usual price; at a moderate price; cheaply.
5. In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.
  Quotations
  But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.
  2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry ”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)‎
6. In a time approaching our own.
  Quotations
  In that part of the world which was first inhabited, […] even as low down as Abraham's time, they wandered with their flocks and herds.
  1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […]
7. (astronomy) In a path near the equator, so that the declination is small, or near the horizon, so that the altitude is small; said of the heavenly bodies with reference to the diurnal revolution.
verb
third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed
1. (obsolete, transitive) To lower; to make low.
  Quotations
  I shall only say this, that all the other graces must low the sail to faith, and so it is faith must carry us through, being that last triumphing grace, […]
  1654 (edition of 1762), Andrew Gray, The Works of [...] Andrew Gray [Edited by R. Trail and J. Stirling], page 112
  Now to use these as Hypotheseis, as himself in his Word, is pleas'd to low himself to our capacities, is allowable:
  1661 (edition of 1885), Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: [...] Vanity of Dogmatizing, page 85
  The merry fowks that were the ben, / By this time 'gan to low their strain
  1790, Andrew Shirrefs, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, page 219
  She was quite free of bad inventions, / But was a bitch o high pretenfions, / For the grit folk o' a dimensions, / Ran for her breed; / Dog-officers may low their pensions, / Since Venie's dead, 'Twas past the art o'man to cure her, / […]
  1807, James Ruickbie, The Way-side Cottager; [...] Miscellaneous Poems, page 178
  Dat 'ill be somtin' ta hise an' low wi' a ütterly breeze.
  1899 May 6, Shetland News

low²

verb
1. (obsolete) simple past of laugh.

low³

/ləʊ/

verb
third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed
1. (intransitive) To moo.
  Quotations
  In peals of thunder now she roars--and now / She gently whimpers like a lowing cow
  1726, Jonathan Swift, “The Lamentations of Glumdalclitch for the Loss of Grildrig”, in Gulliver's Travels, A Voyage to Brobdingnag
  It would have been a great privilege to be the mistress of an old time-honoured mansion, to call oaks and elms her own, to know that acres of gardens were submitted to her caprices, to look at herds of cows and oxen, and be aware that they lowed on her own pastures.
  1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “The Honourable Mr. Glascock”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], page 107

low⁴

/ləʊ/

noun
plural lows
1. (countable, UK, Scotland, dialect) A flame; fire; blaze.
  Quotations
  She was, as one of them expressed himself, in a light low (bright flame) when they observed a king's ship, with her colours up, heave in sight from behind the cape. The guns of the burning vessel discharged themselves […]
  1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], page 85
  A boy fell aff his chair a' in a low, for the discharge had set him on fire […]
  1843, John Wilson, The Noctes Ambrosianœ of "Blackwood"., page 478
  […] and he was sure to light of a verse blazing wi' a blue brimstone low that set all straight.
  1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Shirley. A Tale. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], page 76
verb
third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed
1. (UK, Scotland, dialect) To burn; to blaze.
  Quotations
  Driest wood will eithest low,
  1724 (edition of 1788), Allan Ramsay, The Tea-Table Miscellany, page 23
  They scarcely left to co'er their fuds, To quench their lowan drouth.
  1785, Robert Burns, The Jolly Beggars
  […] in every crevice; and each individual brick shone and “lowed” with the intense heat. “As I am a Christian man,” thought he, “this is verily the mouth of the pit; and I am lost — lost for ever, for —”
  1870, Edward Peacock, Ralf Skirlaugh, the Lincolnshire Squire: A Novel, page 197
  Sand, striking a light with his flint and steel, and transferring the flame when it lowed up to the bowl of his tiny elf's pipe, so small that it just let in the top of his little finger as he settled the tobacco in it as it began to burn.
  1894, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Raiders, page 82
  The next I saw, James parried a thrust so nearly that I thought him killed; and it lowed up in my mind that this was the girl's father, and in a manner almost my own, and I drew and ran in to sever them.
  1895, Robert Louis Stevenson, Works, page 382

low⁵

/ləʊ/

noun
plural lows
1. (archaic or obsolete) Barrow, mound, tumulus.
  Quotations
  A barrow or Low, such as were usually cast up over the bodies of eminent Captains.
  1686, Robert Plot, The natural history of Staffordshire
2. (Scottish dialectal, archaic) A hill.
  Quotations
  And some they brought the brown lint-seed, and flung it down from the Low.
  1847, Mary Howitt, Ballads and other poems

low⁶

/laʊ/

verb
1. Alternative form of 'low

Definition of "low"

low1

adjective

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noun

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adverb

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verb

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low2

verb

low3

verb

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low4

noun

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verb

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low5

noun

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low6

verb

low¹

low²

low³

low⁴

low⁵

low⁶