American Heritage Dictionary Entry: bow HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com bow 1 (bou) Share: Tweet n. Nautical 1. The front section of a ship or boat. 2. Either of the sides of this front section: the starboard bow. 3. The oar or the person wielding the oar closest to the bow in a racing shell. [Middle English boue, probably of Low German origin; see bheug- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. bow 2 (bou) Share: Tweet v. bowed, bow·ing, bows v.intr. 1. To bend or curve downward; stoop. 2. To incline the body or head or bend the knee in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration. 3. To yield in defeat or out of courtesy; submit. See Synonyms at yield. v.tr. 1. To bend (the head, knee, or body) to express greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration. 2. To convey (greeting, for example) by bending the body. 3. To escort deferentially: bowed us into the restaurant. 4. To cause to acquiesce; submit. 5. To overburden: Grief bowed them down. n. An inclination of the head or body, as in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.Phrasal Verb: bow out To remove oneself; withdraw.Idiom: bow and scrape To behave obsequiously. [Middle English bowen, from Old English būgan; see bheug- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. bow 3 (bō) Share: Tweet n. 1. A bent, curved, or arched object. 2. A weapon consisting of a curved, flexible strip of material, especially wood, strung taut from end to end and used to launch arrows. 3. a. An archer. b. Archers considered as a group. 4. a. Music A rod having horsehair drawn tightly between its two raised ends, used in playing instruments of the violin and viol families. b. A stroke made by this rod. 5. A knot usually having two loops and two ends; a bowknot. 6. a. A frame for the lenses of a pair of eyeglasses. b. The part of such a frame passing over the ear. 7. A rainbow. 8. An oxbow. v. bowed, bow·ing, bows v.tr. 1. To bend (something) into the shape of a bow. 2. Music To play (a stringed instrument) with a bow. v.intr. 1. To bend into a curve or bow. 2. Music To play a stringed instrument with a bow. [Middle English bowe, from Old English boga; see bheug- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Bow (bō), Clara Known as "the It Girl." 1905-1965. Share: Tweet American actress whose roles in silent films, such as Mantrap (1926) and It (1927), made her a symbol of the Roaring Twenties. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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