Bow | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Bow, v. t.

verbtransitive

(bou), v. t. [imp. & p. p. BOWED; p. pr. & vb. n. BOWING.] [A-S. bûgan, beógan, Goth. biugan, O. H. Ger. piokan, N. H. Ger. biegen, beugen, D. buigen; Icel. beygia, Sw. bója, Dan. böje; Skr. bhudj, to be bent.]

Sense 1. To cause to deviate from straightness; to bend; to inflect; to make crooked or curved.

We bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their natural straightness. Bacon.

The whole nation bowed their necks to the worst kind of tyranny. Prescott.

Sense 2. To cause to deviate from a natural condition; to exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend; to turn; to incline.

For troubles and adversities do more bow men's minds to religion. Bacon.

Not to bow and bias their opinions. Fuller.

Sense 3. To bend or incline, as the head or body, in token of respect, homage, or condescension.

They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 2 Kings ii. 15.

Sense 4. To cause to bend down; to prostrate; to depress; to crush; to subdue.

[His] heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave. Shak.

Bow, v. i.

verbintransitive

(bou), v. i. To bend, in token of reverence, respect, or civility; to bend; to curve; to be inflected; — often with down.

Admired, adored by all the circling crowd, For wheresoe’er she turned her face, they bowed. Dryden.

Bow, n.

noun

(bou), n. [See supra.]

An inclination of the head, or a bending of the body, in token of reverence, respect, civility, or submission; as, a bow of deep humility.
(Naut.) The bending or rounded part of a ship forward; the stem or prow.

On the bow (Naut.), on that part of the horizon within 45° on either side of the line ahead. Totten.

Bōw, n.

noun

(bō), n. [See supra, and cf. BOUGH. See BOW, to bend.]

Any thing bent, or in form of a curve; as, the rainbow; the doubling of a string in a knot; the part of a yoke which embraces the neck, &c.
A weapon made of a strip of wood, or other elastic material, with a cord connecting the two ends, by means of which, when drawn back and suffered to return, an arrow is propelled.
An instrument resembling the archer's bow, consisting of a number of long horse-hairs, stretched from end to end of an elastic rod, and used to produce sound on a musical instrument by being drawn over its strings.
(Manuf.) One of several different kinds of instruments having a curved form, or resembling the archer's bow; as, a beam of wood or brass, with three long screws to bend a strip of wood or steel, for describing arches of large radius; a rude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea; an instrument resembling the archer's bow, for turning a drill, or other thing, by means of its string passing round a small pulley; a similar instrument used by hatters for breaking fur, wool, &c.
(Saddlery.) (s. or pl.) Two pieces of wood laid archwise to receive the upper part of a horse's back, to give the saddle its due form, and to keep it tight.
(Arch.) Any part of a building which projects from a straight wall. Gwilt.
A flying buttress, or arch buttress. Oxf. Gloss.