cow
Plural: cattle, cows, kine, kye
Noun
- A fully grown female bovine animal; a large farm animal.
- female of domestic cattle:
- "`moo-cow' is a child's term"
- mature female of mammals of which the male is called `bull'
- a large unpleasant woman
- An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved.
- Any member of the species Bos taurus that is not of a bucking breed or fighting breed, regardless of sex or age, including bulls and calves.
- Beef: the meat of cattle as food.
- Any bovines or bovids generally, including yaks, buffalo, etc.
- A female member of other large species of mammal, including the bovines, moose, whales, seals, hippos, rhinos, manatees, and elephants.
- A woman considered unpleasant in some way, particularly one considered nasty, stupid, fat, lazy, or difficult.
- A chock: a wedge or brake used to stop a machine or car.
- A third-year cadet at West Point.
- A fish that is very large for its species, such as a large striped bass or large bluefin tuna.
- A chimney cowl.
- LFBOT: Synonym of luminous fast blue optical transient.
Verb
Verb Forms: cowed, cowing, cows
- To intimidate or dishearten someone into submission.
- subdue, restrain, or overcome by affecting with a feeling of awe; frighten (as with threats)
- To intimidate; to daunt the spirits or courage of.
Examples
- Con artists are not cowed by the law.
- He played ’COW’ for a paltry 8 points, clearly not his best Words With Friends move.
- His opponent tried to ’COW’ him with a triple-word score, but he stood firm in Scrabble.
- The only meat I eat is cow.
- 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.
- We saw lots of cows at the farm show, including some surprisingly gigantic bulls.
Origin / Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws
Proto-Germanic *kōz
Proto-West Germanic *kō
Old English cū
Middle English cou
English cow
Inherited from Middle English cou, cu, 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”).
Synonyms
moo-cow, overawe, LFBOT, bastard, bitch, browbeat, buffalo, bugger, bulldoze, bully, cattle beast, cow, cow class, cow event, cow-class event, cow-like event, dastardize, daunt, dishearten, do down, dolphinet, domineer, drive, hector, intimidate, luminous fast blue optical transient, menace, strong-arm
Scrabble Score: 8
cow: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordcow: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
cow: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary