Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To bend or curve downward; stoop.
  • intransitive verb To incline the body or head or bend the knee in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
  • intransitive verb To yield in defeat or out of courtesy; submit. synonym: yield.
  • intransitive verb To bend (the head, knee, or body) to express greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
  • intransitive verb To convey (greeting, for example) by bending the body.
  • intransitive verb To escort deferentially.
  • intransitive verb To cause to acquiesce; submit.
  • intransitive verb To overburden.
  • noun An inclination of the head or body, as in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
  • idiom (bow and scrape) To behave obsequiously.
  • noun A bent, curved, or arched object.
  • noun A weapon consisting of a curved, flexible strip of material, especially wood, strung taut from end to end and used to launch arrows.
  • noun An archer.
  • noun Archers considered as a group.
  • noun Music A rod having horsehair drawn tightly between its two raised ends, used in playing instruments of the violin and viol families.
  • noun A stroke made by this rod.
  • noun A knot usually having two loops and two ends; a bowknot.
  • noun A frame for the lenses of a pair of eyeglasses.
  • noun The part of such a frame passing over the ear.
  • noun A rainbow.
  • noun An oxbow.
  • intransitive verb To bend (something) into the shape of a bow.
  • intransitive verb Music To play (a stringed instrument) with a bow.
  • intransitive verb To bend into a curve or bow.
  • intransitive verb Music To play a stringed instrument with a bow.
  • noun The front section of a ship or boat.
  • noun Either of the sides of this front section.
  • noun The oar or the person wielding the oar closest to the bow in a racing shell.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun . Same as bough. Compare with bowpot for boughpot.
  • noun 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.
  • noun The foremost oar used in rowing a boat, or the person who pulls that oar; the bow-oar.
  • To bend into the form of a bow; inflect; curve: as, to bow a ribbon; bowed shutters.
  • In music: To perform by means of a bow upon a stringed instrument: as, to bow a passage well.
  • To mark (a passage) so as to indicate the proper method of bowing.
  • In hat-making, to separate and distribute in the basket (the filaments of felting-fur) by means of a bow.
  • To be curved or bent.
  • To perform or play by means of the bow: as, a violinist who bows with great taste.
  • To become bent or crooked; assume a curved form; bend; curve.
  • To tend; turn; incline.
  • To bend or curve downward; take a bent posture or attitude; stoop.
  • To bend the neck under a yoke; submit or become subject; yield: as, to bow to the inevitable.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • To cause to bend; make curved or crooked; cause to assume and retain a bent shape.
  • To cause to stoop or become bent, as with old age or a burden; hence, to crush.
  • To cause to bend in submission; cause to submit; subdue.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bowen, from Old English būgan; see bheug- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bowe, from Old English boga; see bheug- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English boue, probably of Low German origin; see bheug- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English boga, from Proto-Germanic *bugô. Cognate with Dutch boog, German Bogen, Swedish båge, Danish bue.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English būgan, from Proto-Germanic *beuganan. Cognate with Dutch buigen, German biegen.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Take a bow or draw a bow.

    November 22, 2007

  • Take a bow.

    January 14, 2010

  • IE root bheug- v I E root bhāghu-

    February 5, 2013