Adjacent Words

Cow definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COW, n. plu. cows; old plu. kine. The female of the bovine genus of animals; a quadruped with cloven hoofs, whose milk furnishes an abundance of food and profit to the farmer.
Sea-cow, the Manatus, a species of the Trichechus. [See Sea-cow.]
COW, v.t. To depress with fear; to sink the spirits or courage; to oppress with habitual timidity.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: female of domestic cattle: "`moo-cow' is a child's term" [syn: cow, moo-cow]
2: mature female of mammals of which the male is called `bull'
3: a large unpleasant woman v
1: subdue, restrain, or overcome by affecting with a feeling of awe; frighten (as with threats) [syn: overawe, cow]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English cou, from Old English c?; akin to Old High German kuo cow, Latin bos head of cattle, Greek bous, Sanskrit go Date: before 12th century 1. a. the mature female of cattle (genus Bos) b. the mature female of various usually large animals (as an elephant, whale, or moose) 2. a domestic bovine animal regardless of sex or age • cowy adjective II. transitive verb Etymology: probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Danish kue to subdue Date: 1581 to destroy the resolve or courage of <the party that Stalin had cowed — World Press Review>; also to bring to a state or an action by intimidation — used with into <like too many Asian armies, adept at cowing a population into feeding them — Edward Lansdale> Synonyms: see intimidate • cowedly adverb

Britannica Concise

In animal husbandry, the mature female of domesticated cattle. The name is also applied to the mature female of various, usually large, animals (e.g., elephant, whale, or moose), or, more broadly, to any domestic bovine animal (see bovid) regardless of gender or age.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 a fully grown female of any bovine animal, esp. of the genus Bos, used as a source of milk and beef. 2 the female of other large animals, esp. the elephant, whale, and seal. 3 derog. sl. a a woman esp. a coarse or unpleasant one. b Austral. & NZ an unpleasant person, thing, situation, etc. Phrases and idioms: cow-fish 1 any of several small plant-eating mammals, e.g. the manatee. 2 a marine fish, Lactoria diaphana, covered in hard bony plates and having hornlike spines over the eyes and on other parts of the body. cow-heel the foot of a cow or an ox stewed to a jelly. cow-lick a projecting lock of hair. cow-parsley a hedgerow plant Anthriscus sylvestris, having lacelike umbels of flowers: also called Queen Anne's lace. cow-pat a flat round piece of cow-dung. cow-tree a tree, Brosimum galactodendron, native to S. America, yielding a milklike juice which is used as a substitute for cow's milk. cow-wheat any plant of the genus Melampyrum, esp. M. pratense growing on heathland. till the cows come home colloq. an indefinitely long time. Etymology: OE cu f. Gmc, rel. to L bos, Gk bous 2. v.tr. (usu. in passive) intimidate or dispirit (cowed by ill-treatment). Etymology: prob. f. ON kúga oppress

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cow Cow, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cowed (koud);; p. pr. & vb. n. Cowing.] [Cf. Icel. kuga, Sw. kufva to check, subdue, Dan. kue. Cf. Cuff, v. t.] To depress with fear; to daunt the spirits or courage of; to overawe. To vanquish a people already cowed. --Shak. THe French king was cowed. --J. R. Green.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cow Cow, n. [Prob. from same root as cow, v. t.] (Mining) A wedge, or brake, to check the motion of a machine or car; a chock. --Knight.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cow Cow (kou), n. [See Cowl a hood.] A chimney cap; a cowl

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cow Cow, n.; pl. Cows (kouz); old pl. Kine (k[imac]n). [OE. cu, cou, AS. c[=u]; akin to D. koe, G. kuh, OHG. kuo, Icel. k[=y]r, Dan. & Sw. ko, L. bos ox, cow, Gr. boy^s, Skr. g[=o]. [root]223. Cf. Beef, Bovine, Bucolic, Butter, Nylghau.] 1. The mature female of bovine animals. 2. The female of certain large mammals, as whales, seals, etc.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(cows, cowing, cowed) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A cow is a large female animal that is kept on farms for its milk. People sometimes refer to male and female animals of this species as cows. Dad went out to milk the cows. ...a herd of cows. N-COUNT see also cattle 2. Some female animals, including elephants and whales, are called cows. ...a cow elephant. N-COUNT: oft N n 3. If someone describes a woman as a cow, they dislike her and think that she is unpleasant or stupid. (INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE) N-COUNT [disapproval] 4. If someone is cowed, they are made afraid, or made to behave in a particular way because they have been frightened or badly treated. (FORMAL) The government, far from being cowed by these threats, has vowed to continue its policy. ...cowing them into submission. = intimidate VERB: be V-ed, V n into n/-ing • cowed By this time she was so cowed by the beatings that she meekly obeyed. ADJ: oft ADJ by n 5. see also mad cow disease, sacred cow

Easton's Bible Dictionary

A cow and her calf were not to be killed on the same day (Lev. 22:28; Ex. 23:19; Deut. 22:6, 7). The reason for this enactment is not given. A state of great poverty is described in the words of Isa. 7:21-25, where, instead of possessing great resources, a man shall depend for the subsistence of himself and his family on what a single cow and two sheep could yield.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Overawe, intimidate, frighten, daunt, abash, discourage, dishearten, break, subdue by fear.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To sleep like a cow, with a **** at one's a-se; said of a married man; married men being supposed to sleep with their backs towards their wives, according to the following proclamation:

All you that in your beds do lie, Turn to your wives, and occupy: And when that you have done your best, Turn a-se to a-se, and take your rest.

Moby Thesaurus

Brahman, Indian buffalo, Partlet, abash, appall, aurochs, beat down, beef, beef cattle, beeves, biddy, bison, bitch, bludgeon, bluster, bluster out of, bossy, bovine, bovine animal, break, brood mare, browbeat, buffalo, bull, bulldoze, bullock, bully, bullyrag, calf, carabao, castrate, cattle, clamp down on, coerce, compel, critter, dairy cattle, dairy cow, daunt, demoralize, despotize, discomfit, disconcert, dismay, doe, dogie, domineer, domineer over, dragoon, embarrass, enslave, ewe, ewe lamb, faze, filly, grind, grind down, guinea hen, gyp, harass, hector, heifer, hen, henpeck, hind, hornless cow, huff, intimidate, jenny, keep down, keep under, kine, leppy, lioness, lord it over, mare, maverick, milch cow, milcher, milk cow, milker, muley cow, muley head, musk-ox, nanny, nanny goat, neat, oppress, overawe, overbear, overmaster, override, ox, oxen, peahen, press heavy on, rattle, repress, ride over, ride roughshod over, roe, she-bear, she-goat, she-lion, slut, sow, steer, stirk, stot, strong-arm, subjugate, suppress, systematically terrorize, terrorize, threaten, tigress, trample down, trample upon, tread down, tread upon, tyrannize, tyrannize over, unman, vixen, walk all over, walk over, weigh heavy on, wisent, yak, yearling, zebu