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COW

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cow¹

  • /kaʊ/ US
  • [kʰæʊː] US
  • /kuː/ Northumbria

Rhymes with -aʊ

Where it comes from

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”), Danish and Swedish ko (“cow”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk ku (“cow”), Faroese kúgv (“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”).

noun cows · cattle · kye · kine

  1. countable, uncountable An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved. 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. broadly, countable, informal, uncountable 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. We saw lots of cows at the farm show, including some surprisingly gigantic bulls.
  3. uncommon, uncountable Beef: the meat of cattle as food. The only meat I eat is cow.
  4. countable, uncommon, uncountable Any bovines or bovids generally, including yaks, buffalo, etc.
  5. countable, uncountable A female member of other large species of mammal, including the bovines, moose, whales, seals, hippos, rhinos, manatees, and elephants.
  6. Ireland, UK, countable, derogatory, informal, uncountable A woman considered unpleasant in some way, particularly one considered nasty, stupid, fat, lazy, or difficult. […] 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.
  7. countable, uncountable A chock: a wedge or brake used to stop a machine or car.
  8. US, countable, slang, uncountable A third-year cadet at West Point. 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?
  9. countable, slang, uncountable A fish that is very large for its species, such as a large striped bass or large bluefin tuna.

Similar: moo-cow, dolphinet, bitch, bugger

cow²

  • /kaʊ/ US
  • [kʰæʊː] US
  • /kuː/ Northumbria

Rhymes with -aʊ

Where it comes from

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”).

verb cows · cowing · cowed

  1. transitive To intimidate; to daunt the spirits or courage of. Con artists are not cowed by the law.

cow³

  • /kaʊ/ US
  • [kʰæʊː] US
  • /kuː/ Northumbria

Rhymes with -aʊ

noun cows

  1. UK, dialectal A chimney cowl. 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; […]

cow⁴

  • /kaʊ/ US
  • [kʰæʊː] US
  • /kuː/ Northumbria

Rhymes with -aʊ

Where it comes from

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.

noun cows

  1. LFBOT: Synonym of luminous fast blue optical transient.

COW⁵

noun COWs

  1. abbreviation, acronym, uncountable Acronym of copy-on-write.copy-on-write
  2. abbreviation, acronym, uncountable Acronym of chief of watch.chief of watch

CoW⁶

proper noun

  1. alternative Alternative form of C of W.C of W

noun CoWs

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of clerk of works.clerk of works

Cow⁷

proper noun Cows

  1. countable, uncountable A surname
  2. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Cow Creek.Cow Creek
  3. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Cow Island.Cow Island
  4. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Cow Lake.Cow Lake
  5. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Cow Mountain.Cow Mountain

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