mow
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English mowen (participle mowen), from Old English māwan (past tense mēow, past participle māwen), from Proto-Germanic *mēaną (compare Dutch maaien, German mähen, Danish meje, Swedish meja), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂meh₁- (“to mow, reap”); compare Hittite [script needed] (ḫamešḫa, “spring/early summer”, literally “mowing time”), Latin metō (“I harvest, mow”), Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō, “I mow”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /məʊ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /moʊ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -əʊ
Verb
mow (third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past mowed, past participle mowed or mown)
- (transitive) To cut down grass or crops.
- He mowed the lawn every few weeks in the summer.
- (transitive) To cut down or slaughter in great numbers.
- 1915, Captain Robert Palmer, Letters from Mesopotamia
- In the afternoon they attacked again, in close formation: our artillery mowed them, but they came on and on, […]
- 1915, Captain Robert Palmer, Letters from Mesopotamia
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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Noun
mow (plural mows)
- The act of mowing (a garden, grass etc.)
- The lawn hasn't had a mow for a couple of months, so it's like a jungle out there!
- (cricket) A shot played with a sweeping or scythe-like motion.
- 1828, Sporting Magazine (volume 21? 71? page 10)
- I consider it would engender a stiff, tame, cautious mode of play, with only now and then a mow, or a chopping hit.
- 2015, Lawrence Booth, The Shorter Wisden 2015:
- At times, they seemed to be playing an especially orgiastic version of Stick Cricket, all computerised mows over midwicket and 30 off the over.
- 1828, Sporting Magazine (volume 21? 71? page 10)
Etymology 2
Middle English mowe, from Middle French moue (“lip, pout”), from Old French moe (“grimace”), from Frankish *mauwa (“pout, protruding lip”), from Proto-Germanic *mawwō (“muff, sleeve”). Akin to Middle Dutch mouwe (“protruding lip”). Cognate to moue (“pout”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /məʊ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /moʊ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -əʊ
Noun
mow (plural mows)
- (now only dialectal) A scornful grimace; a wry face. [from 14th c.]
- Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.212:
- Those that paint them dying […] delineate the prisoners spitting in their executioners faces, and making mowes at them.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
- Make mows at him.
- Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.212:
Translations
Verb
mow (third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past and past participle mowed)
- To make grimaces, mock.
- 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 2
- For every trifle are they set upon me: / Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, / And after bite me;
- 1848, Henry Walter (editor), William Tyndale (original author), Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scriptures
- Nodding, becking, and mowing.
- 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 2
Translations
Etymology 3
Old English mūga. Cognate with Norwegian muge (“heap, crowd, flock”).
Pronunciation
Noun
mow (plural mows)
- (now regional) A stack of hay, corn, beans or a barn for the storage of hay, corn, beans.
- The place in a barn where hay or grain in the sheaf is stowed.
Translations
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Verb
mow (third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past and past participle mowed)
- (agriculture) To put into mows.
Translations
Etymology 4
Noun
mow (plural mows)
- Alternative form of mew (a seagull)
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “mow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
See also
Anagrams
Middle English
Etymology 1
Feom Old English magan (“to use, to win, to be able to”).
Verb
mow
- Alternative form of mowen (“to be able to”)
Etymology 2
Feom Old English māwan (“to mow”).
Verb
mow
- Alternative form of mowen (“to mow”)
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂meh₁-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/əʊ
- Rhymes:English/əʊ/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Cricket
- English terms with quotations
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Frankish
- English dialectal terms
- Rhymes:English/aʊ
- Rhymes:English/aʊ/1 syllable
- Regional English
- en:Agriculture
- English class 7 strong verbs
- English heteronyms
- English verbs with weak preterite but strong past participle
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs