Dictionary:

bow¹

  (bou)

1. The front section of a ship or boat.
2. The oar or the person wielding the oar closest to the bow.

[Middle English boue, probably of Low German origin.]

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.

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.

An inclination of the head or body, as in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.

bow out

1. To remove oneself; withdraw.

bow and scrape

1. To behave obsequiously.

[Middle English bowen, from Old English būgan.]

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. 1. An archer.
   2. Archers considered as a group.
4. 1. Music. A rod having horsehair drawn tightly between its two raised ends, used in playing instruments of the violin and viol families.
   2. A stroke made by this rod.
5. A knot usually having two loops and two ends; a bowknot.
6. 1. A frame for the lenses of a pair of eyeglasses.
   2. The part of such a frame passing over the ear.
7. A rainbow.
8. An oxbow.

1. To bend (something) into the shape of a bow.
2. Music. To play (a stringed instrument) with a bow.

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.]

verb

1. To incline the body: arch, bend, hump, hunch, scrunch, stoop. See posture.
2. To give in from or as if from a gradual loss of strength: buckle, capitulate, submit, succumb, surrender, yield. Informal fold. See resist/yield.
3. To conform to the will or judgment of another, especially out of respect or courtesy: defer, submit, yield. Idioms: give ground, give way. See precede/follow, resist/yield.

noun

An inclination of the head or body, as in greeting, consent, courtesy, submission, or worship: curtsy, genuflection, kowtow, nod, obeisance. See courtesy/discourtesy.

noun

Something bent: bend, crook, curvature, curve, round, turn. See straight/bent.

verb

To swerve from a straight line: angle, arc, arch, bend, crook, curve, round, turn. See straight/bent.

Idioms beginning with bow:
bow and scrape
bowl of cherries, life is just a
bowl over
bow out

See also take a bow; two strings to one's bow.

Definition: bend from waist
Antonyms: straighten

v

Definition: bend
Antonyms: stand straight

v

Definition: submit, concede
Antonyms: defend, fight, overpower

Bow (see also archers). From prehistoric times until its replacement by early firearms during the 16th century, the bow remained the principal hand-held missile weapon in warfare. Bows fell into three main types: the composite bow, the crossbow, and the longbow.

Rightly regarded as one of early man's great technical developments, the composite bow was used by the armies of both classical Greece and Rome and their enemies such as the Scythians, Persians, and Parthians. It usually consisted of a wooden core onto which thin layers of horn were glued to the belly (the inside of the bow nearest the archer) while layered strips of animal sinew were glued to the back of the bow. A protective covering of leather or parchment might then be added to prevent rain from dissolving the glue. As sinew is naturally elastic and horn compressive, their combination resulted in a bow of considerable power, yet which crucially was short enough to use with ease on horseback. The composite bow thus became the weapon par excellence of the eastern nomadic peoples such as the Huns, Magyars, and Mongols, whose military successes stemmed in large part from the highly effective combination of archery fire power and great manoeuvrability. The weapon was also used throughout the Levant, the Near East, and the Far East, while its predominance among the Turks frequently led western sources to refer to this weapon as a ‘Turkish bow’. Riders were trained to achieve astonishing feats of accuracy while at full gallop, often turning in the saddle to fire backwards with a ‘Parthian shot’. Yet while the composite bow might achieve greater range than a longbow, the arrows it fired were lighter and its powers of penetration were much less; numerous Crusade sources speak of Frankish knights bristling like porcupines with the number of Turkish arrows lodged in their mail, yet remaining unwounded by them. The composite bow can be found as a military weapon in medieval France, appearing, for example, in manuscripts such as the Maciejowski Bible (c.1250), and was the principal form of bow in medieval and Renaissance Italy, where the longbow never supplanted it.

The most powerful hand-held missile weapon of the Middle Ages was the crossbow, constructed by securing a bow (or lath) horizontally to a stock or tiller, which contained a nut, often of bone or ivory, to hold the string when spanned, a trigger mechanism, and a groove onto which the short, thick arrows (known as bolts or quarrels) were laid for firing. The bow itself could be simply of wood or of a composite of horn or whalebone placed between two thin pieces of yew and covered in tendon, while steel bows appear from the 14th century. The crossbow was known to the Chinese as early as the 6th century bc, and their later development of the weapon included repeating crossbows of considerable sophistication. The ancient Greeks used a form of crossbow known as the gastraphetes or ‘belly-bow’, spanned by placing the stock against the stomach and pushing a sliding mechanism forward to lock with a trigger mechanism, while the Romans employed the large torsion-driven bow or ballista as an effective light artillery piece, particularly in siege warfare. The hand-held crossbow seems to have had only a limited role in Roman warfare and was largely restricted to hunting.

Though considerable knowledge of classical siegecraft survived into the Dark Ages, the role of the crossbow remains obscure until the later 10th century, when mention begins to be made of its use in European warfare. Tenth- and 11th-century depictions of crossbows suggest these early weapons were spanned by placing the archer's feet against the bow stave and drawing the string upwards with his hands. By the 12th century, if not before, this cumbersome method was replaced by the use of a stirrup attached to the end of the tiller, in which the bowman placed a foot while attaching the string to a hook slung from his belt; by straightening his back while pushing down with his foot, the bow was spanned. Stirrup and belt hook, and a variant involving a cord and pulley attached to the bowman's belt, seem to have remained the predominant method of spanning crossbows until the 15th century, when a mechanical ratchet known as a cranequin, first appearing in the second half of the 14th century, gained popularity. This allowed mounted crossbowmen, now using more compact crossbows, to reload while still in the saddle. At the same time, the windlass and pulley, hitherto restricted to large frame-mounted crossbows (sometimes called springalds) for siege work, now became widespread for spanning large, more powerful hand-held military crossbows.

Assessing the range and penetrative power of medieval crossbows is difficult because of a dearth of extant examples before the 16th century, and because it is clear that there was always a multiplicity of sizes and types of crossbow in use at any given time. Written sources leave no doubt that as early as the 11th century, crossbows could penetrate mail armour, so much so, indeed, that in several engagements, such as the battle of Lincoln in 1217, commanders ordered their crossbowmen to shoot the enemy horses not the riders, wishing not to kill but to capture the opposing knights for rich ransom. Nevertheless, the crossbow claimed many noble victims, most notably Richard ‘the Lionheart’ who died of an infected wound after being struck by a bolt at the siege of Chaluz Chabrol in 1199, and it was not unusual for captured crossbowmen to face execution or mutilation at the hands of vengeful knights. Though by the 15th century some armourers were claiming their plate armour proof against bolts, extant weapons reveal the awesome power of late medieval crossbows; a 15th-century example spanned by a cranequin had a draw weight of 400 lb—more than double that of the most powerful of longbows—while that of a large, wall-mounted crossbow spanned by a windlass was 1, 200 lb or nearly half a ton, allowing it to shoot a bolt 460 yards (421 metres).

Crossbows, it seems, were generally more powerful than longbows, but their great disadvantage was their slow rate of fire, particularly with the clumsy, if reliable, windlass. A trained crossbowman might shoot one or at best two bolts to the longbowman's seventeen or more aimed arrows per minute. It was this disparity that led to the rout of the Genoese crossbowmen at Crécy in 1346, when they were engulfed by English arrows after loosing only one volley. Crossbowmen often carried a very large shield known as a pavise to shelter behind while loading, but this restricted the speed of any tactical movement. The crossbow was at its best not in open battle but in siege, where speed of fire was less important than its power, accuracy, and ability to be used in more restricted space than could the longbow. Whereas a longbowman needed to come up to the draw before loosing, the crossbowman could span his weapon in advance. Silent in shooting, more accurate than many early firearms, and more reliable in wet weather, the crossbow remained extremely popular for hunting until modern times, and the great majority of extant examples are richly decorated hunting weapons from the 16th century and later.

The longbow was usually made from a single wooden stave of about 6 feet in length and was distinguished from other self-bows (such as the flat bow) by its deep ‘D’ section, with a ratio of width to depth of one to three. Several types of wood could be used; the late 12th-century writer Gerald of Wales noted the prowess of the men of Gwent with powerful longbows made from wych elm, while ash, particularly favoured for arrows, was also used for bows. Yew was best, and the finest bow-wood of all was slow-growing yew, imported from Spain and Dalmatia, which allowed a stave to possess a natural composite quality in the elastic sap wood (found nearest the outside of the tree) and the composite, more densely ringed heartwood. Few medieval longbows are extant, but excavations of Henry VIII's warship the Mary Rose, which sank in the Solent in 1545, revealed over 130 longbows in excellent condition. Tests revealed these weapons to have a far higher draw weight than was previous ascribed to the longbow. Whereas most modern sporting longbows have an average pull of around 60-70 lb, the majority of the Mary Rose bows fell into the middle or upper part of a range between 100 lb to over 170 lb. A bow of 170 lb could shoot a heavy war-arrow nearly 300 yards (274 metres) with considerable accuracy. Arrows, usually carried in quivers of 24, could have a variety of heads, ranging from wide hunting broadheads, used for game but equally effective against horses, to small, barbed anti-personnel heads, needle-like bodkin heads, and square sectioned armour-piercing heads closely resembling those of crossbow bolts. Bodkin-headed arrows could easily pierce mail, and though further ballistic tests are necessary, it seems certain that at a closer range some forms of plate armour could be penetrated. Chronicle sources amply attest to the devastating power of longbow arrows falling, as one contemporary noted of Crécy, ‘so thick that it seemed snow’.

It was once thought that the longbow was developed from the late 13th century onwards from the so-called ‘shortbow’, a weaker weapon drawn only to the chest. But this belief, held by early military historians like Sir Charles Oman and J. E. Morris, was based on too literal and too limited an interpretation of medieval iconography such as the Bayeux Tapestry. In fact, while a variety of types of self-bows (bows made only of wood) existed, particularly outside Europe, archaeology reveals the use of longbows (so called to distinguish them not from the ‘shortbow’ but the crossbow) from prehistoric times onwards. The longbow was not ‘discovered’ in Wales by the Angevin kings, but rather the catalyst of Edward I's Welsh and Scots wars (see Wales, conquest of and Scots wars of independence) led to an existing weapon being deployed en masse, as archers were ideal infantry for operating in difficult terrain. What made the longbow so highly effective in the Hundred Years War and accounted for the victories such as Crécy, Poitiers in 1356, and Agincourt, was less the development of any new weapon but the crucial tactical combination of archers, now numbering in their thousands, with dismounted men-at-arms. Nor was the longbow only a preserve of the English; the French knew the weapon and even had a large number of archers at Agincourt, though they were never effectively deployed; 15th-century Burgundian armies included their own longbowmen as well as English mercenary archers; and some of the finest depictions of late medieval longbows come from Germany and the Low Countries.

Cheap to produce, capable of far greater speed and accuracy than any smoothbore musket, the longbow was a formidable weapon in the hands of a seasoned archer. Its one disadvantage was that it demanded great physical strength and skill, which could only be developed through years of training. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the tactical significance of archers in English armies and a near constant war footing created a ready reservoir of expert bowmen, but by the mid-16th century, ever more desperate attempts by the government to legislate for practice with the longbow signalled an inexorable decline. While traditionalists, mindful of past glories in France, argued for the retention of longbowmen as the mainstay of English infantry, it was clear from rapid military developments on the continent that the arquebus and musket, which required far less strength or training to operate effectively, were the weapons of the future.

Bibliography

• Brabury, Jim, The Medieval Archer (Woodbridge, 1985).
• Hardy, Robert, Longbow: A Social and Military History (Cambridge, 3rd edn., 1992).
• Heath, E. G., The Grey Goose Wing: A History of Archery (Reading, 1971).
• —— Archery. A Military History (London, 1980).
• Payne-Gallwey, Ralph, The Crossbow (London, 1903; repr. New York, 1996)

— Matthew Strickland

n. the front end of a ship: water sprayed high over her bows.

on the bow within 45° of the point directly ahead.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

1. The longitudinal curvature of a rod, bar, or piece of tubing or lumber.
2. A flexible rod for laying large curves to any desired curvature. 3. Old English term for flying buttress.

bow, 1

Tutor's tip: A "beau" is a boyfriend; "beaus" or "beaux" are more than one beau. A "bow" is a weapon that shoots arrows, a stick for playing the violin, anything curved, or a decorative knot.

Bow may mean:

• Bow (knot), a type of knot
• Bow tie, a piece of decorative clothing (like neck tie)
• Bow (weapon), an archery weapon that uses elasticity to propel arrows
• Bow (music), a device used to play a stringed instrument
• Musical bow, a musical instrument resembling an archer's bow, not to be confused with the bow used to play a stringed instrument
• E-bow, a hand-held, battery-powered electronic device for playing the electric guitar
• Bow (composite materials), a conditional longitudinal curvature in pulltruded parts

All the above are pronounced to rhyme with "no". Pronounced to rhyme with "now", the word can mean:

• Bowing (social), the act of lowering the head or the upper body
• Bow (ship), the foremost point of the hull of a ship or boat
• Bow collector, an electric pick-up device for trains and trams

Bow may also denote the places:

• Bow, Devon, England
• Bow, London, England (historically called Stratford atte Bowe)
• Bow, Orkney, Scotland
• Bow, New Hampshire, United States
• Bow, Washington, United States
• The Bow (Calgary), a building in Calgary, Alberta
• Bow River, a river in the Canadian province of Alberta

Other uses:

• Bow (She-Ra), a character from She-Ra: Princess of Power
• Bows (band), a band from the UK
• B.O.W., for Bio-Organic Weapon - a creature created due to exposure of a viral agent in the Resident Evil series

See also

• Rainbow, an optical phenomenon causing coloured bands to appear in the sky
• Oxbow (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - sløjfe
v. tr. - stryge, binde sløjfe
v. intr. - stryge, binde sløjfe

idioms:

• bow and arrow    bue og pil
• bow tie    butterfly

2.
v. intr. - bukke, bøje sig
v. tr. - bøje, bukke
n. - buk

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    bukke og skrabe for, være servil for
• bow down    knæle, bøje sig
• bow out    følge bukkende ud
• bow to    bukke for
• make one's bow    gøre sin entré
• take a bow    modtage bifald

3.
n. - forstavn, bov

Nederlands (Dutch)
strijkstok, handboog, boeg, buiging, strik, plotselinge beweging, strijken, buigen, toegeven

Français (French)
1.
n. - arc (d'archet), (Mus) archet, n¯ud (de ruban), (Tech) arceau, anse
v. tr. - courber (qch), manier l'archet
v. intr. - (Mus) manier l'archet, courber (qch)

idioms:

• bow and arrow    arc et flèches, jeu de tir à l'arc
• bow tie    n¯ud papillon

2.
v. intr. - saluer, incliner la tête, fléchir (une branche, etc), se courber (sous le poids), ployer, se courber (qn), (fig) s'incliner devant, se soumettre à
v. tr. - courber, fléchir, s'incliner, saluer
n. - salut, révérence

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    se mettre à plat ventre devant, (fig) faire des courbettes
• bow down    (lit, fig) s'incliner devant qn, (lit) faire plier, courber, (fig) écraser, briser
• bow out    tirer sa révérence, prendre congé
• bow to    saluer, se soumettre, s'incliner
• make one's bow    faire sa révérence, saluer
• take a bow    faire une révérence, s'incliner

3.
n. - (Naut) avant, proue (d'un bateau), nageur de l'avant (aviron)

idioms:

• on the bow    (Naut) par devant

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Schleife
v. - streichen

idioms:

• bow and arrow    Pfeil und Bogen
• bow tie    Fliege

2.
v. - beugen, sich verbeugen
n. - Diener, Verbeugung, Bogen, Strich

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    buckeln vor
• bow down    beugen, sich verbeugen
• bow out    sich formell verabschieden
• bow to    sich fügen in
• make one's bow    sich vorstellen
• take a bow    einen Diener machen

3.
n. - Bug

idioms:

• on the bow    am Bug

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - φιόγκος, τόξο τοξοβολίας, δοξάρι, τόξο, ημικύκλιο, κλίση του κεφαλιού, (ελαφρά) υπόκλιση, (ναυτ.) πρώρα, πλώρη
v. - υποκλίνομαι, κλίνω ελαφρά (το κεφάλι), γέρνω, σκύβω, υποτάσσομαι, υποκύπτω, λυγίζω, ενδίδω, κάμπτω, λυγίζω

idioms:

• bow and arrow    τόξο και βέλος
• bow and scrape to    κάνω ρεβεράντζες, φέρομαι με δουλοπρέπεια
• bow down    υποκλίνομαι, συντρίβω, τσακίζω
• bow out    εξέρχομαι, υποχωρώ, αποσύρομαι
• bow tie    παπιγιόν
• bow to    υποκλίνομαι (μπροστά) σε, υποκύπτω σε
• make one's bow    υποκλίνομαι προ του κοινού, αποχωρώ διακριτικά
• take a bow    υποκλίνομαι στο κοινό (που επευφημεί)

Italiano (Italian)
suonare, curvare, fare l'inchino, inchino, arco, nastro, prua, nodo, tocco, pennellata, archetto

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    essere servile
• bow down    inchinarsi
• bow out    ritirarsi
• bow tie    cravatta a farfalla
• bow to    rassegnarsi a
• make a bow    rinunciare, inchinarsi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - arco (m), laço (m), mesura (f)
v. - inclinar-se

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    desfazer-se em mesuras
• bow down    entregar-se (para o inimigo)
• bow out    afastar-se (cargo)
• bow tie    gravata (f) borboleta
• bow to    aceitar
• make one's bow    obrigar alguém a
• take a bow    receber aplausos no palco

Русский (Russian)
согнуть, поклониться, поклон, лук, смычок, бант

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    пресмыкаться, унижаться
• bow down    поклонится
• bow out    выпроводить
• bow tie    галстук-бабочка
• bow to    приветствовать кого-либо
• make one's bow    дебютировать
• take a bow    дебютировать, получить признание

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - tipo de nudo, saludo
v. tr. - doblar, inclinar, inclinarse
v. intr. - inclinarse, hacer una reverencia, agobiarse, someterse

idioms:

• bow and arrow    arco y flechas
• bow tie    corbatín, pajarita

2.
v. intr. - arquearse, doblarse, combarse, manejar el arco
v. tr. - arquear, doblar, combar
n. - inclinación, reverencia, arco, lazo, cuerda de arco, arco del violín

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    hacer zalemas o zalamerías
• bow down    doblegar, agobiar
• bow out    despedir a alguien con una reverencia
• bow to    resignarse a, conformarse con, someterse
• make one's bow    presentarse, entrar en, ser presentado
• take a bow    inclinarse, hacer una reverencia

3.
n. - proa

idioms:

• on the bow    a proa

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - bugning, nickning, för, stäv, rundning, båge, stråke, knut, bogman (i roddbåt)
v. - böja, kröka, buga sig, böja sig

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
1. 船头, 艄, 前桨手, 船头一侧, 前桨

idioms:

• bow and arrow    弓箭
• bow tie    蝶形领结

2. 鞠躬, 欠身, 顺从, 屈服, 低, 欠, 欠身引领, 鞠躬表示, 压弯, 低头

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    很辛苦的...
• bow down    鞠躬, 服从
• bow out    由...退出, 从容引退
• bow to    屈服于, 甘拜下风
• make one's bow    正式进入, 正式引退
• take a bow    鞠躬, 答谢

3. 弓, 弓状物, 虹, 弧形物, 弄弯, 用弓拉, 形成弓形, 弯曲, 拉琴

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 船頭, 艄, 前槳手, 船頭一側, 前槳

idioms:

• bow and arrow    弓箭
• bow tie    蝶形領結

2.
v. intr. - 鞠躬, 欠身, 順從, 屈服
v. tr. - 低, 欠, 欠身引領, 鞠躬表示, 壓彎
n. - 鞠躬, 低頭, 欠身

idioms:

• bow and scrape to    很辛苦的...
• bow down    鞠躬, 服從
• bow out    由...退出, 從容引退
• bow to    屈服於, 甘拜下風
• make one's bow    正式進入, 正式引退
• take a bow    鞠躬, 答謝

3.
n. - 弓, 弓狀物, 虹, 弧形物
v. tr. - 弄彎, 用弓拉
v. intr. - 形成弓形, 彎曲, 拉琴

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 나비 매듭, 굽은 곳
v. tr. - 활처럼 구부리다
v. intr. - 굽다

2.
v. intr. - 허리를 구부리다, 굴복하다, 휘다
v. tr. - ~를 구부리다, ~을 굴복시키다, ~을 안내하다
n. - 절

idioms:

• bow down    허리가 굽다
• bow out    물러나다
• bow to    절하다
• make one's bow    첫 선을 보이다, 절을 하고 퇴장하다
• take a bow    갈채를 받다, 인사하다

3.
n. - 선수, 앞 노

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - お辞儀をする, 下げる, かがめる, 会釈して案内する, おじぎをして示す, たわませる, 弓で弾く
n. - お辞儀, 弓, 湾曲, 弓形の物, ちょう結び, ちょうネクタイ, 船首, 船首のこぎ手, 船首のオール

idioms:

• bow and arrow    弓矢
• bow and scrape to    ぺこぺこする
• bow down    お辞儀をする, 屈服する
• bow out    会釈して送り出す, 退職する
• bow tie    蝶ネクタイ
• bow to    丁重に頭を下げる, 屈する
• make one's bow    お目見得する, 退場する
• take a bow    紹介に対し答礼する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مقدمه السفينه, قوس, , انحناء, انثناءة, طأطأة (فعل) انحنى, انثنى, عزف بواسطه قوس, وتري‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חרטום הספינה‬
v. intr. - ‮ניגן בקשתנית‬
v. tr. - ‮ניגן בקשתנית‬
n. - ‮קשת, קשת בענן, יצול-המשקפיים‬
n. - ‮עניבה, לולאה, קשר, פיתול לא-עמוק‬
v. tr. - ‮כופף, הביע תוך קידה‬
v. intr. - ‮קד, השתחווה, התכופף, הביע תוך קידה‬

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