BOW • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Bow

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/baʊ/ /boʊ/ Listen

Bow

noun

1.

A knot with two loops and loose ends; used to tie shoelaces. Synonym: bowknot.

2.

A slightly curved piece of resilient wood with taut horsehair strands; used in playing certain stringed instruments.

3.

Front part of a vessel or aircraft. Synonyms: fore, prow, stem.

4.

A weapon for shooting arrows, composed of a curved piece of resilient wood with a taut cord to propel the arrow.

5.

Something curved in shape. Synonym: arc.

6.

Bending the head or body or knee as a sign of reverence or submission or shame or greeting. Synonyms: bowing, obeisance.

7.

An appearance by actors or performers at the end of the concert or play in order to acknowledge the applause of the audience. Synonym: curtain call.

8.

A decorative interlacing of ribbons.

9.

A stroke with a curved piece of wood with taut horsehair strands that is used in playing stringed instruments.

verb

(past & past part. bowed; pres. part. bowing)

1.

Bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head. Synonym: bow down. "She bowed her head in shame"

2.

Yield to another's wish or opinion. Synonyms: accede, defer, give in, submit.

3.

Bend the head or the upper part of the body in a gesture of respect or greeting.

4.

Bend one's back forward from the waist on down. Synonyms: bend, crouch, stoop. "She bowed before the Queen" , "The young man stooped to pick up the girl's purse"

5.

Play on a string instrument with a bow.

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Bow" Quotes from Famous Books

... do bow themselves before him, And at his breath the mountains are affrighted; Who bolt in arms is seen, the soma-drinker, And bolt in hand; ('tis) he, ...

— The Religions of India - Handbooks On The History Of Religions, Volume 1, Edited By Morris Jastrow • Edward Washburn Hopkins

... shore and in the sea, and that their nets may crack under the weight of the fish. We have no hope but in you. The evil spirits laugh at us, and too often they are unfavourable and malignant to us, but they will bow before you. We have given you food and joy and health; now we kill you in order that you may in return send riches to us and to our children." To this discourse the bear, more and more surly and agitated, listens without conviction; round and round the tree he paces ...

— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer

... steps with his keys jangling. As Brian would have gone after him, two pikemen stepped forward to intervene. Brian looked into their eyes and they drew back again. He and Cathbarr mounted to the dais, and he bowed a low, courtly, Spanish bow, of which the Bird Daughter took no note. Instead he heard her voice, very low and penetrating, and she was speaking to the ...

— Nuala O'Malley • H. Bedford-Jones

... fairly clear of the shore. The wind freshened. "The Curlew" dashed forward, rising and falling with the swells. The whole east was reddening. The dark spar of the bow-sprit rose and fell through it. It seemed a good omen to be going toward the light. Ere the sun met us on the sea, we were twelve miles out ...

— Left on Labrador - or, The cruise of the Schooner-yacht 'Curlew.' as Recorded by 'Wash.' • Charles Asbury Stephens

... sixteen-knot breeze. To-day we got our one thousandth egg, and the hens are doing well. At twelve—eight bells—we saw a sail on our weather-bow: she was going the same way as we were. At two, we overtook and spoke her. She was the whaler Scotland from New Zealand, bound for New Bedford, with thirty-five hundred barrels of oil. We soon passed her. I wish her ...

— In the Footprints of the Padres • Charles Warren Stoddard

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