mow
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English mowen (participle mowen), from Old English māwan (past tense mēow, past participle māwen), from Proto-West Germanic *māan, from Proto-Germanic *mēaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂meh₁- (“to mow, reap”).
See also Dutch maaien, German mähen, Danish meje, Swedish meja; also Hittite (ḫamešḫa, “spring/early summer”, literally “mowing time”), Latin metō (“I harvest, mow”), Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō, “I mow”).
Pronunciation
Verb
mow (third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past mowed, past participle mowed or mown)
- (transitive) To cut down grass or crops.
- He mowed the lawn every few weeks in the summer.
- (transitive, often with through) To cut down or slaughter in great numbers.
- 1915, Captain Robert Palmer, Letters from Mesopotamia:
- In the afternoon they attacked again, in close formation: our artillery mowed them, but they came on and on, […]
- 2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 4 July 2022:
- On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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Noun
mow (plural mows)
- The act of mowing (a garden, grass, etc.).
- The lawn hasn't had a mow for a couple of months, so it's like a jungle out there!
- (cricket) A shot played with a sweeping or scythe-like motion.
- 1828, Sporting Magazine (volume 21? 71? page 10)
- I consider it would engender a stiff, tame, cautious mode of play, with only now and then a mow, or a chopping hit.
- 2015, Lawrence Booth, The Shorter Wisden 2015:
- At times, they seemed to be playing an especially orgiastic version of Stick Cricket, all computerised mows over midwicket and 30 off the over.
- 1828, Sporting Magazine (volume 21? 71? page 10)
Etymology 2
Middle English mowe, from Middle French moue (“lip, pout”), from Old French moe (“grimace”), from Frankish *mauwa (“pout, protruding lip”), from Proto-Germanic *mawwō (“muff, sleeve”). Akin to Middle Dutch mouwe (“protruding lip”). Doublet of moue ("pout").
Pronunciation
Noun
mow (plural mows)
- (now only dialectal) A scornful grimace; a wry face.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes , London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.212:
- Those that paint them dying delineate the prisoners spitting in their executioners faces, and making mowes at them.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- Make mows at him.
Translations
Verb
mow (third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past and past participle mowed)
- To make grimaces, mock.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- For every trifle are they set upon me: / Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, / And after bite me;
- 1848, William Tyndale, edited by Henry Walter, Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scriptures:
- Nodding, becking, and mowing.
Translations
Etymology 3
Old English mūga. Cognate with Norwegian muge (“heap, crowd, flock”).
Pronunciation
Noun
mow (plural mows)
- (now regional) A stack of hay, corn, beans or a barn for the storage of hay, corn, beans.
- The place in a barn where hay or grain in the sheaf is stowed.
Translations
Verb
mow (third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past and past participle mowed)
- (agriculture) To put into mows.
Translations
Etymology 4
Noun
mow (plural mows)
- Alternative form of mew (a seagull)
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “mow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
See also
Anagrams
Middle English
Etymology 1
Feom Old English magan (“to use, to win, to be able to”).
Verb
mow
- Alternative form of mowen (“to be able to”)
Etymology 2
Feom Old English māwan (“to mow”).
Verb
mow
- Alternative form of mowen (“to mow”)