See also: SOW, Sow, sów, and šow

English edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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(, boar). See also swine.

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

 
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 edit

The plural form swine is now obsolete in this sense.

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

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 , Norwegian Bokmål .

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

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.
    As you sow, so shall you reap.
  2. (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; [...].
  3. (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.
  4. Obsolete spelling of sew
Synonyms edit
The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Anagrams edit

Middle English edit

Etymology 1 edit

Noun edit

sow

  1. Alternative form of sowe

Etymology 2 edit

Verb edit

sow

  1. Alternative form of sowen (to torment)