Meaning

(archery) A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows..

Definitions by Sense

1. (archery) A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
2. A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
3. (music) A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
4. A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.
5. A type of knot with two loops, used to tie together two cords such as shoelaces or apron strings, and frequently used as decoration, such as in gift-wrapping.
6. Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.
7. The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
8. Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.

Example Sentences

Holonym: bow and arrow

Bows come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and cultures, and what is true of one, is not necessarily true of another, so we're gonna be stereotyping here, but, in general, a bow is a way of launching a pointy stick at somebody that you don't like.

I do set my bow in the cloud.

[…] she kept toying with a pair of old sunglasses which lay beside her on the kitchen table. One of the bows had been mended with adhesive tape, and one of the lenses was cracked.

The musician bowed his violin expertly.

The shelf bowed under the weight of the books.

How long wil ye imagine mischiefe against a man? ye shall be slaine all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

[…] as when we bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their naturall ſtraitneſſe.

Word Forms

• bows
• bowing
• bowed
• bao
• bau

Synonyms for bow

Antonyms for bow

Related Words

When Should You Use Bow?

Use bow when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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