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Cow

/[kʰæʊː]/ name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of C of W. alt-of, alternative
  2. 2
    A surname countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A placename; Ellipsis of Cow Creek. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
  4. 4
    A placename; Ellipsis of Cow Island. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
  5. 5
    A placename; Ellipsis of Cow Lake. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    A placename; Ellipsis of Cow Mountain. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
Noun
  1. 1
    An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved. countable, uncountable

    "The whole herd is out to pasture right now — the cows, calves, and heifers are out back, and the bulls are down by the creek."

  2. 2
    A chimney cowl. UK, dialectal

    "Who could live to gaze from day to day on bricks and slates, who had once felt the influence of a scene like this? Who could continue to exist, where there are no cows but the cows on the chimneypots; nothing redolent of Pan but pan-tiles; […]"

  3. 3
    LFBOT: Synonym of luminous fast blue optical transient.
  4. 4
    Acronym of copy-on-write. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
  5. 5
    Initialism of clerk of works. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Show 12 more definitions
  1. 6
    mature female of mammals of which the male is called ‘bull’ wordnet
  2. 7
    Any member of the species Bos taurus that is not of a bucking breed or fighting breed, regardless of sex or age, including steers and calves. broadly, countable, informal, uncountable

    "We saw lots of cows at the farm show, including some surprisingly gigantic bulls."

  3. 8
    Acronym of chief of watch. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
  4. 9
    female of domestic cattle: wordnet
  5. 10
    Beef: the meat of cattle as food. uncommon, uncountable

    "The only meat I eat is cow."

  6. 11
    a large unpleasant woman wordnet
  7. 12
    Any bovines or bovids generally, including yaks, buffalo, etc. countable, uncommon, uncountable
  8. 13
    A female member of other large species of mammal, including the bovines, moose, whales, seals, hippos, rhinos, manatees, and elephants. countable, uncountable
  9. 14
    A woman considered unpleasant in some way, particularly one considered nasty, stupid, fat, lazy, or difficult. Ireland, UK, countable, derogatory, informal, uncountable

    "[…] the worst insult to a woman, either in London or Paris, is "cow"; a name which might even be a compliment, for cows are among the most likeable of animals."

  10. 15
    A chock: a wedge or brake used to stop a machine or car. countable, uncountable
  11. 16
    A third-year cadet at West Point. US, countable, slang, uncountable

    "Colonel Red Reeder, West Point Second Classman An assistant manager, wearing the stripes of a cadet corporal, walked up to Coach Smith. Clint knew him, a Cow from B-l. What had he done to become so outstanding that the Tacs made him a corporal?"

  12. 17
    A fish that is very large for its species, such as a large striped bass or large bluefin tuna. countable, slang, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To intimidate; to daunt the spirits or courage of. transitive

    "Con artists are not cowed by the law."

  2. 2
    subdue, restrain, or overcome by affecting with a feeling of awe; frighten (as with threats) wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws Proto-Germanic *kōz Proto-West Germanic *kō Old English cū Middle English cow English cow Inherited from Middle English cow, cou, from Old English cū (“cow”), from Proto-West Germanic *kō, from Proto-Germanic *kōz (“cow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”). Cognate with Sanskrit गो (go), Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Persian گاو (gâv)), Latvian govs (“cow”), Proto-Slavic *govędo (Serbo-Croatian govedo, Russian говядина (govjadina, “beef”), Scots coo (“cow”), North Frisian ko, kø (“cow”), West Frisian ko (“cow”), Dutch koe (“cow”), Low German Koh, Koo, Kau (“cow”), German Kuh (“cow”), Swedish ko (“cow”), Norwegian ku (“cow”), Icelandic kýr (“cow”), Latin bōs (“ox, bull, cow”) (whence English beef), Armenian կով (kov, “cow”). Doublet of beef. The plural kine is from Middle English kyne, kyn, kuin, kiin, kien (“cows”), either a double plural of Middle English ky, kye (“cows”), equivalent to modern kye + -en, or inherited from Old English cūna (“cows', of cows”), genitive plural of cū (“cow”).

Etymology 2

Probably from Old Norse kúga (“to oppress”) (whence also Norwegian and Danish kue, Swedish kuva); compare Icelandic kúfa (“to set on top”) and Faroese kúga (“to oppress”).

Etymology 3

Clipping of AT2018cow. From the name of the archetypal event, AT2018cow, an LFBOT. From being an astronomical transient (AT) occurring in 2018, with an automatically assigned code to distinguish it from other events in 2018.

See also for "cow"

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