trow

T1R1O1W4
US/tɹoʊ/UK/tɹəʊ//tɹaʊ/

verb

To trust or believe.

OriginMiddle English trowen ← Old English trēowan ← Proto-Germanic *trewwāną →
UncommonScrabble 7
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Meanings

trow1

verbtrow (third-person singular simple present trows, present participle trowing, simple past and past participle trowed)

present singular third person trows · participle present trowing · participle past trowed · past trowed

  1. archaicdialectalTo trust or believe.

    But was the matter allowed to end there? I trow not.

    1895, Kenneth Graham, The Golden Age, London, page 6
    3 more examples

    ...Sure (he said) my wife shall never know Of this escape, and if she do, I know the worst I trow She can but chide, shall feare of chiding make me to forslow?

    1567, Arthur Golding: Ovid's Metamorphoses; Bk. 2 lines 527-9

    Finding me stick to her still like wax, for my mettle was up as hers was, away she flew with me swifter than ever I went before, or since, I trow.

    1869, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, chapter X, in Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, […], →OCLC

    "And as their valour, so you trow, defied on aspe'rous voyage cruel harm and sore, so many changing skies their manhood tried, such climes where storm-winds blow and billows roar[.]"

    1880, Richard Francis Burton, Os Lusíadas, volume I, page 23
  2. archaicdialectalTo have confidence in, or to give credence to.
nountrow (usually uncountable, plural trows)

plural trows

  1. archaicdialectaluncountableusuallyTrust or faith.

trow2

nountrow (countable and uncountable, plural trows)

plural trows

  1. countabledatednauticalAny of several flat-bottomed sailing boats used for fishing or for carrying bulk goods.

trow3

nountrow (plural trows)

plural trows

  1. OrkneyShetlandalternativedatedhuman sciencesAlternative form of drow.

    The Trows are of a diminutive stature, and they are usually dressed in gay green garments.

    1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 261

trow4

nountrow (uncountable)
  1. dateduncountableUsed chiefly in the expression drop trow.

Trow5

proper nounTrow (countable and uncountable, plural Trows)

plural Trows · alternative Trew

  1. countableuncountableA surname from Middle English.
  2. countableuncountableA ghost town in Clark County, Wisconsin, United States.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
troll

Origin

trow · verb, noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*drew-“faithful, true”
  2. Proto-Germanic*trūwāną“to trust”
  3. Proto-Germanic*trewwāną“to trust”
  4. Old Englishtrūwian“to trust, confide”
  5. Old Englishtrēowan
  6. Middle Englishtrowen
  7. Englishtrow

From Middle English trowen, trouwen, treuwen, treowen, trouen, from Old English trēowan, trīewan (“to trust”) and Old English trūwian (“to trust, confide”), from Proto-Germanic *trewwāną (“to trust”) and Proto-Germanic *trūwāną (“to trust”); both from Proto-Indo-European *drew- (“faithful, true”). Akin to Scots trow, trew (“to believe, trust, confide in, prove”), Dutch trouwen (“to wed, marry”), German trauen (“to trust, marry”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish tro (“to believe, think”), Norwegian Nynorsk tru (“to believe, think”), Icelandic trúa (“to trust, believe, believe in”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

trow · noun

  1. Old Norsetrǫll“troll, malevolent supernatural being”
  2. Norntroll
  3. Old Norsedraugr“malevolent revenant”
  4. Norn*drou
  5. Scotstrow
  6. Englishtrow

From Shetlandic and Orcadian Scots trow, from Norn *drou, *drau (compare 18th c. Norwegian drau, modern drov, drauv), from Old Norse draugr (“malevolent revenant”); along the variation drow, intermixed with Norn troll, from Old Norse trǫll (“troll, malevolent supernatural being”), a partial synonym to draugr. L-vocalisation occurred in the early 15th century in Middle Scots, so trolly, knolls probably became *trowie, knowes around this time.

More words from Scots, Norn, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →

trow · noun

Shortened form of trousers.

Full word history & related roots →

Trow · proper noun

  1. Middle Englishtrow“trough”
  2. Middle Englishtrewe“faithful, loyal”
  3. EnglishTrow

Various origins: * A nickname for a trustworthy person, from Middle English trewe (“faithful, loyal”). * A topographic surname for someone who lived near a depression in the ground, from Middle English trow (“trough”).

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with trow

toourdonosonowhowgoknowshowolowbelowcoproagothoughohalthoughallowflowpojoemo
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

throw (th-stopping)throw (th-stopping)

Anagrams

wort
Cite this entry
APA

trow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trow

MLA

“trow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trow. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “trow,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trow.

Source: trow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.