bow
IPA: bˈaʊ
noun
- A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
- A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
- A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
- A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.
- 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.
- Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.
- The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
- Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.
- 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.
- (nautical) A crude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
- (saddlery) Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddletree.
- The part of a key that is not inserted into the lock and that is used to turn the key.
- Either of the two handles of a pair of scissors.
- A gesture, usually showing respect, made by inclining the head or bending forward at the waist; a reverence
- (nautical) The front of a boat or ship.
- (rowing) The rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.
- A surname.
- A place name:
- A suburb of eastern London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets, Greater London, England (OS grid ref TQ3782).
- A village and civil parish in Mid Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref SS7201).
- A hamlet in Ashprington parish, South Hams district, Devon (OS grid ref SX8156).
- A hamlet in Stanford in the Vale parish, Vale of White Horse district, Oxfordshire, England (OS grid ref SU3494).
- An unincorporated community in Cumberland County, Kentucky, United States.
- A town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States.
- An unincorporated commmunity in Skagit County, Washington, United States.
- Obsolete spelling of bough [A tree-branch, usually a primary one directly attached to the trunk.]
- Alternative form of bao; any of several Chinese buns and breads [Any of various types of steamed bread or bun used in Chinese cuisine]
- (computational linguistics) Alternative letter-case form of BOW
- (computational linguistics) Initialism of bag of words. [(computational linguistics) The collection of words from an unprocessed text without regard to grammar; a collection of word unigrams.]
verb
- To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.
- (intransitive) To become bent or curved.
- (transitive) To make something bend or curve.
- (transitive, figurative) To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend, figuratively; to turn; to incline.
- (transitive, figurative) To humble or subdue, to make submit.
- (intransitive) To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.
- (transitive and intransitive) To debut.
- (intransitive) To defer (to something).
- (transitive) To give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.
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Examples of "bow" in Sentences
- She strung a bow and shot.
- Bend the knees and bow the legs.
- The knees bend and the legs bow.
- Symbols include the bow and the lyre.
- The municipal officer bowed in silence.
- Building is bowed upwards in the middle.
- The bow is the foremost part of the hull.
- He bowed as the applause crescendoed again.
- Essay on the fingering of the violoncello and on the conduct of the bow.
- The composite bow was adopted because of the limitations of the simple bow.
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