*bow*

{ } n. [ Cf. Sw. bullra to roar, rattle, Dan. buldre, dial. Sw. bullersteen larger kind of pebbles; perh. akin to E. bellow. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A large stone, worn smooth or rounded by the action of water; a large pebble. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Geol.) A mass of any rock, whether rounded or not, that has been transported by natural agencies from its native bed. See Drift. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bowlder clay, the unstratified clay deposit of the Glacial or Drift epoch, often containing large numbers of bowlders. --
Bowlder wall, a wall constructed of large stones or bowlders. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bowed p. pr. & vb. n. Bowing. ] [ OE. bowen, bogen, bugen, AS. būgan (generally v. i.); akin to D. buigen, OHG. biogan, G. biegen, beugen, Icel. boginn bent, beygja to bend, Sw. böja, Dan. böie, bugne, Coth. biugan; also to L. fugere to flee, Gr. &unr_;, and Skr. bhuj to bend. √88. Cf. Fugitive. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To cause to deviate from straightness; to bend; to inflect; to make crooked or curved. [ 1913 Webster ]

We bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their natural straightness. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The whole nation bowed their necks to the worst kind of tyranny. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend, figuratively; to turn; to incline. [ 1913 Webster ]

Adversities do more bow men's minds to religion. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not to bow and bias their opinions. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To bend or incline, as the head or body, in token of respect, gratitude, assent, homage, or condescension. [ 1913 Webster ]

They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 2 Kings ii. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To cause to bend down; to prostrate; to depress, ;&unr_; to crush; to subdue. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To express by bowing; as, to bow one's thanks. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To bend; to curve. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To stop. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

They stoop, they bow down together. Is. xlvi. 2&unr_; [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To bend the head, knee, or body, in token of reverence or submission; -- often with down. [ 1913 Webster ]

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. Ps. xcv. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To incline the head in token of salutation, civility, or assent; to make bow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Admired, adored by all circling crowd,
For wheresoe'er she turned her face, they bowed. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An inclination of the head, or a bending of the body, in token of reverence, respect, civility, or submission; an obeisance; as, a bow of deep humility. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bowe, boge, AS. boga, fr. AS. būgan to bend; akin to D. boog, G. bogen, Icel. bogi. See Bow, v. t. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Anything bent, or in the form of a curve, as the rainbow. [ 1913 Webster ]

I do set my bow in the cloud. Gen. ix. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An ornamental knot, with projecting loops, formed by doubling a ribbon or string. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The U-shaped piece which embraces the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (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. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. An arcograph. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (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. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Naut.) A rude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Saddlery) sing. or pl. Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddletree. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bow bearer (O. Eng. Law), an under officer of the forest who looked after trespassers. --
Bow drill, a drill worked by a bow and string. --
Bow instrument (Mus.), any stringed instrument from which the tones are produced by the bow. --
Bow window (Arch.) See Bay window. --
To draw a long bow, to lie; to exaggerate. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Bowed p. pr. & vb. n. Bowing. ] To play (music) with a bow. -- v. i. To manage the bow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Icel. bōgr shoulder, bow of a ship. See Bough. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Naut.) The bending or rounded part of a ship forward; the stream or prow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) One who rows in the forward part of a boat; the bow oar. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bow chaser (Naut.), a gun in the bow for firing while chasing another vessel. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

--
Bow piece, a piece of ordnance carried at the bow of a ship. --
On the bow (Naut.), on that part of the horizon within 45° on either side of the line ahead. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being bowed or bent; flexible; easily influenced; yielding. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One born within hearing distance of Bow-bells; a cockney. Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. The bells of Bow Church in London; cockneydom. [ 1913 Webster ]

People born within the sound of Bow-bells are usually called cockneys. Murray's Handbook of London. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bent, like a bow. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Bow-compasses 1. An arcograph. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A small pair of compasses, one leg of which carries a pencil, or a pen, for drawing circles. Its legs are often connected by a bow-shaped spring, instead of by a joint. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A pair of compasses, with a bow or arched plate riveted to one of the legs, and passing through the other. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the deletion of all passages considered to be indecent.
Syn. -- bowdlerization, expurgation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. same as bowdlerize.
Syn. -- bowdlerize, expurgate, shorten, cut. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. the deletion of all passages considered to be indecent.
Syn. -- bowdlerisation, expurgation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bowdlerized p. pr. & vb. n. Bowdlerizing ] [ After Dr. Thomas Bowdler, an English physician, who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818. ] To expurgate, as a book, by omitting or modifying the parts considered offensive; to remove morally objectionable parts; -- said of literary texts.
Syn. -- bowdlerise, expurgate, shorten, cut. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

It is a grave defect in the splendid tale of Tom Jones . . . that a Bowdlerized version of it would be hardly intelligible as a tale. F. Harrison. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Bowd`ler*i*za"tion n. -- Bowd"ler*ism n. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adj. 1. bent over; -- used of back or head.
Syn. -- bent, inclined. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Music) sounded by stroking with a bow; -- of a stringed musical instrument; as, bowed instruments. Contrasted with plucked. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. resembling an arch.
Syn. -- arced, arched, arching, arciform, arcuate. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. same as bow-legged.
Syn. -- bandy, bandy-legged, bowleg, bowlegged. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

5. submitting to the authority of another.
Syn. -- bowing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. bouel, bouele, OF. boel, boele, F. boyau, fr. L. botellus a small sausage, in LL. also intestine, dim. of L. botulus sausage. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One of the intestines of an animal; an entrail, especially of man; a gut; -- generally used in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

He burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Acts i. 18. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. Hence, figuratively: The interior part of anything; as, the bowels of the earth. [ 1913 Webster ]

His soldiers . . . cried out amain,
And rushed into the bowels of the battle. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. The seat of pity or kindness. Hence: Tenderness; compassion. “Thou thing of no bowels.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bloody Bonner, that corpulent tyrant, full (as one said) of guts, and empty of bowels. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. Offspring. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Boweled or Bowelled p. pr. & vb. n. Boweling or Bowelling. ] To take out the bowels of; to eviscerate; to disembowel. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Written also bowelled. ] Having bowels; hollow. “The boweled cavern.” Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without pity. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From G.T. Bowen, who analyzed it in 1822. ] (Min.) A hard, compact variety of serpentine found in Rhode Island. It is of a light green color and resembles jade. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Bow, v. & n. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One who bows or bends. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) An anchor carried at the bow of a ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A muscle that bends a limb, esp. the arm. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His rawbone arms, whose mighty brawned bowers
Were wont to rive steel plates and helmets hew. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Best bower,
Small bower. See the Note under Anchor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ G. bauer a peasant. So called from the figure sometimes used for the knave in cards. See Boor. ] One of the two highest cards in the pack commonly used in the game of euchre. [ 1913 Webster ]

Right bower, the knave of the trump suit, the highest card (except the “Joker”) in the game. --
Left bower, the knave of the other suit of the same color as the trump, being the next to the right bower in value. --
Best bower or
Joker, in some forms of euchre and some other games, an extra card sometimes added to the pack, which takes precedence of all others as the highest card. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bour, bur, room, dwelling, AS. būr, fr. the root of AS. būan to dwell; akin to Icel. būr chamber, storehouse, Sw. būr cage, Dan. buur, OHG. pūr room, G. bauer cage, bauer a peasant. √97 ] Cf.Boor, Byre. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Anciently, a chamber; a lodging room; esp., a lady's private apartment. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give me my lute in bed now as I lie,
And lock the doors of mine unlucky bower. Gascoigne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A rustic cottage or abode; poetically, an attractive abode or retreat. Shenstone. B. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A shelter or covered place in a garden, made with boughs of trees or vines, etc., twined together; an arbor; a shady recess. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To embower; to inclose. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To lodge. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Bough, cf. Brancher. ] (Falconry) A young hawk, when it begins to leave the nest. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Metal.) A certain process for producing upon articles of iron or steel an adherent coating of the magnetic oxide of iron (which is not liable to corrosion by air, moisture, or ordinary acids). This is accomplished by producing, by oxidation at about 1600° F. in a closed space, a coating containing more or less of the ferric oxide (Fe2O3) and the subsequent change of this in a reduced atmosphere to the magnetic oxide (Fe2O4). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Zool.) An Australian bird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus or Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus), allied to the starling. The male constructs singular bowers or playhouses of twigs and decorates them with bright-colored objects to attract females; the satin bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The name is also applied to other related birds of the same region, having similar habits; as, the spotted bower bird (Chalmydodera maculata), and the regent bird (Sericulus melinus). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Shading, like a bower; full of bowers. [ 1913 Webster ]

A bowery maze that shades the purple streams. Trumbull. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Boweries [ D. bouwerij. ] A farm or plantation with its buildings. [ U. S. Hist. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The emigrants [ in New York ] were scattered on boweries or plantations; and seeing the evils of this mode of living widely apart, they were advised, in 1643 and 1646, by the Dutch authorities, to gather into “villages, towns, and hamlets, as the English were in the habit of doing.” Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Characteristic of the street called the Bowery, in New York city; swaggering; flashy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Falconry) Same as Bower. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A voracious ganoid fish (Amia calva) found in the fresh waters of the United States; the mudfish; -- called also Johnny Grindle, and dogfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To swell out. See Bouge. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cause to leak. [ Obs. ] See Bouge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) A frame or fender of rope or junk, laid out at the sides or bows of a vessel to secure it from injury by floating ice. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Archery) The hand that holds the bow, i. e., the left hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

Surely he shoots wide on the bow hand. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mus.) The hand that draws the bow, i. e., the right hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The great Arctic or Greenland whale. (Balæna mysticetus). See Baleen, and Whale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a small genus of tropical African perennial bulbous herbs with deciduous twining stems; sometimes placed in family Hyacinthaceae.
Syn. -- genus Bowiea. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

A knife with a strong blade from ten to fifteen inches long, and double-edged near the point; -- used as a hunting knife, and formerly as a weapon in the southwestern part of the United States. It was named from its inventor, Colonel James Bowie. Also, by extension, any large sheath knife. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mus.) 1. The act or art of managing the bow in playing on stringed instruments. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bowing constitutes a principal part of the art of the violinist, the violist, etc. J. W. Moore. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In hatmaking, the act or process of separating and distributing the fur or hair by means of a bow, to prepare it for felting. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a bending manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A knot in which a portion of the string is drawn through in the form of a loop or bow, so as to be readily untied. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bolle, AS. bolla; akin to Icel. bolli, Dan. bolle, G. bolle, and perh. to E. boil a tumor. Cf. Boll. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A concave vessel of various forms (often approximately hemispherical), to hold liquids, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brought them food in bowls of basswood. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically, a drinking vessel for wine or other spirituous liquors; hence, convivial drinking. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The contents of a full bowl; what a bowl will hold. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The hollow part of a thing; as, the bowl of a spoon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. boule, fr. L. bulla bubble, stud. Cf. Bull an edict, Bill a writing. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A ball of wood or other material used for rolling on a level surface in play; a ball of hard wood having one side heavier than the other, so as to give it a bias when rolled. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. An ancient game, popular in Great Britain, played with biased balls on a level plat of greensward. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like an uninstructed bowler, . . . who thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straightforward upon it. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. The game of tenpins or bowling. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bowled p. pr. & vb. n. Bowling. ] 1. To roll, as a bowl or cricket ball. [ 1913 Webster ]

Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To roll or carry smoothly on, or as on, wheels; as, we were bowled rapidly along the road. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To pelt or strike with anything rolled. [ 1913 Webster ]

Alas, I had rather be set quick i' the earth,
And bowled to death with turnips&unr_; Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bowl (a player)
out, in cricket, to put out a striker by knocking down a bail or a stump in bowling. [ 1913 Webster ]