| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| bow3 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  b |
| NOUN: | 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. 3a. An archer. b. Archers considered as a group. 4a. 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. 6a. 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. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: bowed, bow·ing, bows
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To bend (something) into the shape of a bow. 2. Music To play (a stringed instrument) with a bow. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To bend into a curve or bow. 2. Music To play a stringed instrument with a bow. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English bowe, from Old English boga. See bheug- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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