HOW TO PRONOUNCE
bow
/ˈboʊ̯/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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What does bow mean?
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.
More meanings (39)
noun
- 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.
- A crude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
- Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddle tree.
- 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
- The front of a boat or ship.
- The rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.
- Alternative form of bao; any of several Chinese buns and breads
- Ellipsis of bow-wow
- Initialism of bag of words.
- Alternative letter-case form of BOW.
- (obsolete) Obsolete spelling of bough.
verb
- To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.
- To bend or curve, particularly downward.
- (figuratively) To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend or incline, figuratively; to humble or subdue.
- To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.
- To debut.
- To defer (to something).
- To give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.
- To give up or cease resisting.
- about to
- Ellipsis of bow-wow
interjection
- Ellipsis of bow-wow
proper noun
- A surname.
- 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.
- A town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire.
- An unincorporated commmunity in Skagit County, Washington.
- Ellipsis of Bow Creek
- Ellipsis of Bow Street
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈboʊ̯/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
“If I put an end to your enemy, will you bow down to me and obey me as King of the Forest?”
Then an alarm gun bellowed from a ship’s bow, its deep boom reverberating in deafening tones beneath the rocky dome of Omean.
More book examples (3)
They rounded a point at the farther end of the Lake, and entering an inlet pushed their bow against a protruding tree-trunk.
On the port bow there was a big one more distant and shadowily imposing by the great space of sky it eclipsed.
It could not be lifted vertically as its bow was caught in a V-shaped cornice formed by an overhanging mass of snow.