sow

plural sows · archaic plural swine · alternative dialectal zew · alternative dialectal soo

1. A female animal
   1. A female pig.
   2. A female bear; she-bear.

      Lucky he wasn't a sow. They've usually just dropped a cub this time of year. A sow would have been cranky as hell.

      1995, Dana Stabenow, Play with Fire, →ISBN, page 11

   3. A female guinea pig.
2. derogatoryslangA contemptible, often fat woman.

   Synonyms: bitch, cow

3. abbreviationclippingClipping of sowbug.
4. A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
5. A mass of metal solidified in a mold.

   In England, it was generally termed a 'sow', if the weight was above 10 cwts., if below, it was termed a 'pig' from which the present term 'pig iron' is derived.

   1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 160

   Synonyms: ingot

6. governmentA kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.

present singular third person sows · participle present sowing · past sowed · participle past sown

1. ambitransitiveTo scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).

   When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.

2. ambitransitivefigurativelyTo spread abroad; to propagate.

   as you sow, so shall you reap

   3 more examples

   Euen as I haue seene, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickednsse, reape the same.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 4:8

   And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.

   1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv, page 16

   Not surprisingly, it has sown doubt among other operators of diesel-hydraulics; […].

   1963 June, G. Freeman Allen, “The success of diesel-hydraulics on the German Federal Railway”, in Modern Railways, page 386

3. figurativelyTo scatter over; to besprinkle.

   [He] sowd with Starrs the heav'n.

   1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   1 more example

   The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, […] and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.

   a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC

4. obsoleteObsolete spelling of sew.

plural Sows

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableA river in Staffordshire, England, which joins the River Trent.

plural SOWs

1. abbreviationinitialismbusinessInitialism of statement of work (“a document in project management, including deliverables and timelines”).
2. abbreviationinitialismgovernmentInitialism of standoff weapon.