bow

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Nautical The front section of a ship or boat.
2. n. Nautical The oar or the person wielding the oar closest to the bow.
3. v. To bend or curve downward; stoop.
4. v. To incline the body or head or bend the knee in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
5. v. To yield in defeat or out of courtesy; submit. See Synonyms at yield.
6. v. To bend (the head, knee, or body) to express greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
7. v. To convey (greeting, for example) by bending the body.
8. v. To escort deferentially: bowed us into the restaurant.
9. v. To cause to acquiesce; submit.
10. v. To overburden: Grief bowed them down.
11. n. An inclination of the head or body, as in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
12. bow out To remove oneself; withdraw.
13. idiom. bow and scrape To behave obsequiously.
14. n. A bent, curved, or arched object.
15. n. A weapon consisting of a curved, flexible strip of material, especially wood, strung taut from end to end and used to launch arrows.
16. n. An archer.
17. n. Archers considered as a group.
18. n. Music A rod having horsehair drawn tightly between its two raised ends, used in playing instruments of the violin and viol families.
19. n. A stroke made by this rod.
20. n. A knot usually having two loops and two ends; a bowknot.
21. n. A frame for the lenses of a pair of eyeglasses.
22. n. The part of such a frame passing over the ear.
23. n. A rainbow.
24. n. An oxbow.
25. v. To bend (something) into the shape of a bow.
26. v. Music To play (a stringed instrument) with a bow.
27. v. To bend into a curve or bow.
28. v. Music To play a stringed instrument with a bow.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To become bent or crooked; assume a curved form; bend; curve.
2. To tend; turn; incline.
3. To bend or curve downward; take a bent posture or attitude; stoop.
4. To bend the neck under a yoke; submit or become subject; yield: as, to bow to the inevitable.
5. To bend the body or head in worship, or in token of reverence, respect, or submission: with to or before, and sometimes emphasized by down.
6. To make a bow; incline the body or the head toward a person by way of salutation or friendly recognition, or in acknowledgment of some courtesy.
7. To cause to bend; make curved or crooked; cause to assume and retain a bent shape.
8. To cause to stoop or become bent, as with old age or a burden; hence, to crush.
9. To cause to bend in submission; cause to submit; subdue.
10. To bend; inflect; cause to deviate from a given condition.
11. To incline; turn in a particular direction; influence.
12. To bend or incline in worship or adoration, or in token of submission, homage, respect, civility, condescension, or attention.
13. To express by a bow or by bowing: as, to bow one's thanks or assent.
14. To accompany or usher in, out, etc., with a bow or bows.
15. n. An inclination of the head or a bending of the body in salutation, or in token of reverence, respect, civility, submission, assent, or thanks.
16. n. A bend; a curve.
17. n. A weapon consisting of a strong strip of elastic wood or other elastic material, with a string stretched between its ends, used for shooting arrows. When the bow has been bent to its full extent by pulling the string back from it, the recoil of the string (against the inner side of which the notch of the arrow is placed) when released impels the arrow. The bow and arrow have been used in all ages and by many peoples as a weapon, and, though superseded in the advance of civilization by firearms, are still in use among savage tribes, and are the officially recognized weapon of the Manchu garrisons of China, where archery is still one of the subjects of examination for officers in the regular army. Bows were at one time divided into longbows and crossbows. During the middle ages the nations of Europe used longbows of 5 or 6 feet in length, the shorter ones being used by horsemen, and the longer by the foot-archers. The bows now commonly used in archery are of two kinds, the single-piece bow, or self-bow, and the back or union bow. The single-piece bow is made of one rod of hickory, lancewood, or yew, the last, if perfectly free from knots, being considered the most suitable wood. The union bow is made of two or sometimes three pieces glued together. See cuts under arbalister, bowman, and crossbow.
18. n. The name of several implements shaped like a bent bow. In music, an implement originally curved, but now almost straight, by means of which the tone is produced from instruments of the violin kind. It is made of a slender staff of elastic wood, to the two slightly projecting ends of which a quantity of horse-hairs (about 80 or 100) are fastened. These, being rubbed with resin and drawn over the strings of the instrument, cause it to sound.
19. n. An implement consisting of a piece of wood curved, and having a string extended from one extremity to the other, used by smiths in turning a drill, by turners in turning wood, and by hatters in preparing fur and wool for their use.
20. n. Any bent or curved thing. Specifically— A rainbow.
21. n. The part of a yoke which embraces the animal's neck; hence, the yoke itself.
22. n. In saddlery, one of two pieces of wood, united so as to form an arch fitting the horse's back, which serve to give the saddle its proper form.
23. n. In firearms, the guard of the trigger. The bent guard of a sword-hilt.
24. n. One of the bent slats which support the hood, canopy, or tilt of a covered wagon or carriage.
25. n. The framing of the lenses of a pair of spectacles.
26. n. In architecture: (I) An arch (of masonry), as in a gateway or bridge or in a flying buttress.
27. n. A part of a building which projects from a straight wall, properly curved, but sometimes, more loosely, polygonal in plan. In drafting, a flexible strip which can be bent to any desired curve; an arcograph.
28. n. An instrument formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea, consisting of a large arch of 90° graduated, a shank or staff, a side vane, a sight-vane, and a horizon-vane.
29. n. A knot composed of one or two loops and two ends; a bow-knot; hence, a (“single bow” or “double bow”) looped ornamental knot of ribbon, etc.; a ribbon, neck-tie; etc., tied in such a knot.
30. n. A stroke of the bow of a violin: as, the up-bow or the down-bow.
31. n. A ring or loop of metal forming a handle. The loop at the end of the handle of a key.
32. To bend into the form of bow; inflect; curve: as, to bow a ribbon; bowed shutters.
33. In music: To perform by means of a bow upon a stringed instrument: as, to bow a passage well.
34. To mark (a passage) so as to indicate the proper method of bowing.
35. In hat-making, to separate and distribute in the basket (the filaments of felting-fur) by means of a bow.
36. To be curved or bent.
37. To perform or play by means of the bow: as, a violinist who bows with great taste.
38. n. . Same as bough. Compare with bowpot for boughpot.
39. n. Nautical, the forward part or head of a ship, beginning where the sides trend inward, and terminating where they close or unite in the stem or prow. A narrow bow is called a lean bow; a broad one, a bold or bluff bow.
40. n. The foremost oar used in rowing a boat, or the person who pulls that oar; the bow-oar.
41. n. A Scotch form of boll.
42. n. A herd of cattle; the stock of cattle on a farm: as, a bow of kye (that is, cows).
43. n. The provisions of a benefice granted by the pope.
44. n. A curved piece of metal used to make contact with an electric wire to get current for operating a car. This bow is used in place of a trolley.

Wiktionary

1. n. nautical The front of a boat or ship.
2. n. A gesture, usually showing respect, made by bending forward at the waist.
3. n. A debut
4. v. intransitive To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.
5. v. transitive and intransitive To debut.
6. v. intransitive To defer (to something).
7. n. A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
8. n. A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
9. n. A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
10. n. A stringed instrument, similar to the item described above.
11. n. 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.
12. v. To play music on (a stringed instrument) using a bow.
13. v. intransitive To become bent or curved.
14. v. transitive To make something bend or curve.
15. v. intransitive To premiere.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To cause to deviate from straightness; to bend; to inflect; to make crooked or curved.
2. v. To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend, figuratively; to turn; to incline.
3. v. To bend or incline, as the head or body, in token of respect, gratitude, assent, homage, or condescension.
4. v. To cause to bend down; to prostrate; to depress,;� to crush; to subdue.
5. v. To express by bowing.
6. v. obsolete To bend; to curve.
7. v. Archaic To stop.
8. v. To bend the head, knee, or body, in token of reverence or submission; -- often with down.
9. v. To incline the head in token of salutation, civility, or assent; to make bow.
10. n. An inclination of the head, or a bending of the body, in token of reverence, respect, civility, or submission; an obeisance.
11. n. Anything bent, or in the form of curve, as the rainbow.
12. n. A weapon made of a strip of wood, or other elastic material, with a cord connecting the two ends, by means of which an arrow is propelled.
13. n. An ornamental knot, with projecting loops, formed by doubling a ribbon or string.
14. n. The U-shaped piece which embraces the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
15. n. (Mus.) An appliance consisting of an elastic rod, with a number of horse hairs stretched from end to end of it, used in playing on a stringed instrument.
16. n. An arcograph.
17. n. (Mech. & Manuf.) 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 the hair, fur, etc., used by hatters.
18. n. (Naut.) A rude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
19. n. (Saddlery) Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddletree.
20. v. To play (music) with a bow.
21. n. (Naut.) The bending or rounded part of a ship forward; the stream or prow.
22. n. (Naut.) One who rows in the forward part of a boat; the bow oar.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. yield to another's wish or opinion
2. v. bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head
3. v. bend the head or the upper part of the body in a gesture of respect or greeting
4. n. a slightly curved piece of resilient wood with taut horsehair strands; used in playing certain stringed instruments
5. n. something curved in shape
6. v. play on a string instrument with a bow
7. v. bend one's back forward from the waist on down
8. n. a stroke with a curved piece of wood with taut horsehair strands that is used in playing stringed instruments
9. n. a weapon for shooting arrows, composed of a curved piece of resilient wood with a taut cord to propel the arrow
10. n. an appearance by actors or performers at the end of the concert or play in order to acknowledge the applause of the audience
11. n. front part of a vessel or aircraft
12. n. bending the head or body or knee as a sign of reverence or submission or shame or greeting
13. n. a knot with two loops and loose ends; used to tie shoelaces
14. n. a decorative interlacing of ribbons