Bowyer
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person who makes or sells bows (for use with arrows).
"A clause of a former act directing the bowyers of London and Westminster to make four bows of different wood for one of yew, was repealed on their representation that the citizens of London would use none but yew bows, and in its place they were ordered always to have by them at least fifty bows of elm, witch-hasel, or ash."
- 2 A person who uses the bow, an archer. archaic
- 1 A surname originating as an occupation for someone who made bows for archery.
"Dr. Werthimer recalled that Dr. Bowyer and his wife, Jane Baker Bowyer, an education professor at nearby Mills College, had cultivated a Japanese garden in their backyard, “the most serene place you could imagine,” and also attended Burning Man."
Example
More examples"A clause of a former act directing the bowyers of London and Westminster to make four bows of different wood for one of yew, was repealed on their representation that the citizens of London would use none but yew bows, and in its place they were ordered always to have by them at least fifty bows of elm, witch-hasel, or ash."
Etymology
From Middle English bowyere, bowȝere, variant forms of bowere (“bowyer”), equivalent to bow + -yer.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.