sow

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See also: SOW, Sow, sów, and šow

English

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Etymology 1

From Middle English sowe, from Old English sugu, from Proto-Germanic *sugō, from Proto-Indo-European *suh₂kéh₂, from *suH- (“pig”). See also West Frisian sûch, Dutch zeug, Low German Söög, German Sau, Swedish sugga, Norwegian sugge; also Welsh hwch (“pig”), Sanskrit सूकर (sūkará, “swine, boar”); also German Sau, Latin sūs, Tocharian B suwo, Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs), Albanian thi, Avestan 𐬵𐬏 (hū, “boar”). See also swine.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

A sow with her young.

sow (plural sows or swine)

  1. A female pig.
  2. A female bear, she-bear.
    • 1995, Dana Stabenow, Play with Fire, →ISBN, page 11:
      Lucky he wasn't a sow. They've usually just dropped a cub this time of year. A sow would have been cranky as hell.
  3. A female guinea pig.
  4. A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
  5. A mass of metal solidified in a mold.
    • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 160:
      In England, it was generally termed a 'sow', if the weight was above 10 cwts., if below, it was termed a 'pig' from which the present term 'pig iron' is derived.
  6. (derogatory, slang) A contemptible, often fat woman.
  7. A sowbug.
  8. (military) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.
Usage notes

The plural form swine is now obsolete in this sense.

Synonyms
  • (mass of metal solidified in a mold): ingot
  • (contemptible woman): bitch, cow
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English sowen, from Old English sāwan, from Proto-West Germanic *sāan, from Proto-Germanic *sēaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-. Compare Dutch zaaien, German säen, Danish så, Norwegian Bokmål så.

Pronunciation

Verb

sow (third-person singular simple present sows, present participle sowing, simple past sowed, past participle sown or sowed)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).
    When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.
  2. (figurative) To spread abroad; to propagate.
    As you sow, so shall you reap.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Job 4:8:
      Euen as I haue seene, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickednsse, reape the same.
    • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 6:
      And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.
    • 1963 June, G. Freeman Allen, “The success of diesel-hydraulics on the German Federal Railway”, in Modern Railways, page 386:
      Not surprisingly, it has sown doubt among other operators of diesel-hydraulics; […] .
    • 2024 January 25, Marin Scotten, “‘Laying claim to nature’s work’: plant patents sow fear among small growers”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:
      ‘Laying claim to nature’s work’: plant patents sow fear among small growers [title]
  3. (figurative) To scatter over; to besprinkle.
    • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, , published 1677, →OCLC:
      The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, […] and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:
      [He] sowd with Starrs the heav'n.
  4. Obsolete spelling of sew
Derived terms
Translations

Anagrams

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

sow

  1. Alternative form of sowe

Etymology 2

Verb

sow

  1. Alternative form of sowen (“to torment”)
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