bow

plural bows

1. archeryA weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.

   Holonym: bow and arrow

   1 more example

   Bows come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and cultures, and what is true of one, is not necessarily true of another, so we're gonna be stereotyping here, but, in general, a bow is a way of launching a pointy stick at somebody that you don't like.

   2024 November 28, blumineck, “Fantasy vs Reality: 5 weapons that fantasy gets wrong!”, in youtube.com, retrieved 07 May 2025

2. A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
3. entertainmentA rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
4. A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.

   Synonyms: fiddlestick, musical bow

5. 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.
6. Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.

   I do set my bow in the cloud.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 9:13

7. The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.

   Synonyms: arc, bend, curve

8. Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.

   […] she kept toying with a pair of old sunglasses which lay beside her on the kitchen table. One of the bows had been mended with adhesive tape, and one of the lenses was cracked.

   1991, Stephen King, Needful Things

9. 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.
10. nauticalA crude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
11. Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddle tree.
12. The part of a key that is not inserted into the lock and that is used to turn the key.
13. Either of the two handles of a pair of scissors.

present singular third person bows · participle present bowing · participle past bowed · past bowed

1. To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.

   The musician bowed his violin expertly.

2. ergativeTo bend or curve, particularly downward.

   The shelf bowed under the weight of the books.

   3 more examples

   How long wil ye imagine mischiefe against a man? ye shall be slaine all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 62:3

   […] as when we bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their naturall ſtraitneſſe.

   1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter I, in The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC, page 32

   The whole nation […]bowed their necks to the worst kind of tyranny.

   1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […], →OCLC

3. figurativelytransitiveTo exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend or incline, figuratively; to humble or subdue.

   not to bow and bias their opinions

   1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI)

   2 more examples

   Adversities do more bow men's minds to religion.

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Atheism”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC

   Know thou the secret of a spirit Bow’d from its wild pride into shame.

   1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems

present singular third person bows · participle present bowing · participle past bowed · past bowed

1. intransitiveTo bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.

   That singer always bows towards her audience for some reason.

   2 more examples

   The soldier now blew upon a green whistle, and at once a young girl, dressed in a pretty green silk gown, entered the room. She had lovely green hair and green eyes, and she bowed low before Dorothy as she said, "Follow me and I will show you your room."

   1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC

   I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

2. intransitivetransitiveTo debut.

   The show bowed in the first week of December, 1951. Dinah was ready, and so were the technicians who put on her makeup […]

   1979, Bruce Cassiday, Dinah!: A Biography, page 115

   1 more example

   SCP recently announced that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will bow on the newly renovated stage next December.

   2010 (publication date), Kara Krekeler, "Rebuilding the opera house", West End Word, volume 39, number 26, December 22, 2010 – January 11, 2011, page 1

3. intransitiveTo defer (to something).

   I bow to your better judgement in the matter.

4. transitiveTo give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.

   Poirot rose gallantly, bowed her into the seat opposite him.

   1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 7, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 124

   2 more examples

   “This way, monsieur,” he said, and led the way up the broad, marble staircase. In another moment he had opened a door, and, drawing aside a heavy curtain, obsequiously bowed Tarzan into a dimly lighted apartment. Then Jacques vanished.

   1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Plot That Failed”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 63

   He saw himself, in a smart suit and a songkok, bowed into the opulent suites of Ritzes and Waldorfs and baring, under dark glasses, a hairy chest to a milder sun by a snakeless sea.

   1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 302

5. intransitiveTo give up or cease resisting.

   I'll never bow to that tyrant.

plural bows

1. A gesture, usually showing respect, made by inclining the head or bending forward at the waist; a reverence

   He made a polite bow as he entered the room.

plural bows

1. nauticalThe front of a boat or ship.

   Holonyms: watercraft < vessel

   2 more examples

   Meronyms: beak, beak, beakhead

   The night was considerably clearer than anybody on board her desired when the schooner Ventura headed for the land. It rose in places, black and sharp against the velvety indigo, over her dipping bow, though most of the low littoral was wrapped in obscurity.

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 6, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

   Synonyms: stem, forestem, fore, prow, prore · Antonyms: stern, aft, poop

2. hobbiesThe rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.

plural bows

1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of bough.

   [Y]ou are to faſten that line to any bow neer to a hole where a Pike is, or is likely to lye, or to have a haunt, […]

   1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter VII, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 154

   1 more example

   Where the Bee ſucks, there ſuck I, / In a Cowſlips bell, I lie, / There I cowch when Owles doe crie, / On the Batts backe I doe flie / after Sommer merrily. / Merrily, merrily, ſhall I liue now / Vnder the bloſſom that hangs on the Bow.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 17, column 1

plural bows · alternative bao · alternative bau

1. alternativeAlternative form of bao; any of several Chinese buns and breads

1. auxiliaryabout to

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of bow-wow

plural bows

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of bow-wow

present singular third person bows · participle present bowing · participle past bowed · past bowed

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of bow-wow

plural Bows

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. A place name:
   1. countableuncountableA suburb of eastern London in the borough of Tower Hamlets, Greater London, England (OS grid ref TQ3782).
   2. countableuncountableA village and civil parish in Mid Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref SS7201).
   3. countableuncountableA hamlet in Ashprington parish, South Hams district, Devon (OS grid ref SX8156).
   4. countableuncountableA hamlet in Stanford in the Vale parish, Vale of White Horse district, Oxfordshire, England (OS grid ref SU3494).
   5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Cumberland County, Kentucky.
   6. countableuncountableA town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire.
   7. countableuncountableAn unincorporated commmunity in Skagit County, Washington.
   8. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Bow Creek
   9. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Bow Street

plural BOWs · alternative BoW

1. abbreviationinitialismcomputationalInitialism of bag of words.

   However, despite these shortcomings, due to its simplicity and ease of implementation, BoW is a commonly used text representation scheme, especially for text classification among other NLP problems.

   2020, Sowmya Vajjala, Bodhisattwa Majumder, Anuj Gupta, Harshit Surana, Practical Natural Language Processing […] , First edition, Beijing Boston Farnham Sebastopol Tokyo: O'Reilly, →ISBN

plural BoWs

1. computationalAlternative letter-case form of BOW.