sow
English edit
Etymology 1 edit
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 edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
- A female pig.
- 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.
- A female guinea pig.
- A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
- 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.
- (derogatory, slang) A contemptible, often fat woman.
- A sowbug.
- (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 edit
The plural form swine is now obsolete in this sense.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
female pig
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channel that conducts molten metal to molds
mass of metal solidified in a mold
contemptible woman
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also edit
Etymology 2 edit
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 edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /səʊ/
- (US) IPA(key): /soʊ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -əʊ
- Homophones: seau, sew, so, soe, soh
Verb edit
sow (third-person singular simple present sows, present participle sowing, simple past sowed, past participle sown or sowed)
- (transitive, intransitive) To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).
- When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.
- As you sow, so shall you reap.
- (figurative) To spread abroad; to propagate.
- 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] 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; [...].
- (figurative) To scatter over; to besprinkle.
- a. 1677, 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.
- Obsolete spelling of sew
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
disperse seeds
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Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Etymology 1 edit
Noun edit
sow
- Alternative form of sowe
Etymology 2 edit
Verb edit
sow
- Alternative form of sowen (“to torment”)