dow

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /daʊ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

Etymology 1

From Middle English douen, from Old English dugan, from Proto-West Germanic *dugan, from Proto-Germanic *duganą.

Verb

dow (third-person singular simple present dows, present participle dowing, simple past and past participle dowed or dought)

1. (obsolete) To be worth.
2. (obsolete) To be of use, have value.
3. (obsolete) To have the strength for, to be able to.
4. (obsolete) To thrive, prosper.

Etymology 2

From Middle English dowen, from Old French douer, from Latin dōtō.

Verb

dow (third-person singular simple present dows, present participle dowing, simple past and past participle dowed)

2. To furnish with a dower; to endow.

Etymology 3

Noun

dow (plural dows)

1. Alternative form of dhow (“sailing vessel”)

Etymology 4

Noun

dow (plural dows)

1. Obsolete form of dove (“pigeon”).
   • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 63, lines 71–74:

     The fauconer then was prest,
     Came runnynge with a dow,
     And cryed, ‘Stow, stow, stow!’
     But she [his hawk] wold not bow.

Etymology 5

Noun

dow (plural dows)

1. Alternative form of dah (“Burmese knife”)

Anagrams

• owd

German Low German

Etymology

From Middle Low German and Old Saxon dōf, from Proto-West Germanic *daub.

Cognate with English deaf. The second meaning stems from the old misconception that dumb or deaf people were mentally disabled. German doof is taken from this word.

Adjective

dow

1. deaf
2. dumb (not clever)

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish dam (“ox, stag”).

Noun

dow m (genitive singular ?, plural dew)

1. ox
2. stag, hart

Middle English

Noun

dow

1. Alternative form of dogh

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From Dutch dauw.

Noun

dow

1. dew