en.wiktionary.org

sow - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English sowe, from Old English sugu, from Proto-West Germanic *sugu, from Proto-Germanic *sugō, probably from Proto-Indo-European *su(H)kéh₂, from *suH- (“pig”).

See also West Frisian sûch, Dutch zeug, Low German Söög, German Sau, Swedish sugga, Norwegian sugge; also Welsh hwch (“pig”), Sanskrit सूकर (sūkará, “swine, boar”); also Danish so, German Sau, Latin sūs, Tocharian B suwo, Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs), Albanian thi, Avestan 𐬵𐬏 (hū, “boar”). See also swine. Doublet of soor.

A sow with her young.

sow (plural sows or (archaic) swine)

  1. A female pig.
  2. A female bear, she-bear.

    • 1995, Dana Stabenow, Play with Fire, →ISBN, page 11:

      Lucky he wasn't a sow. They've usually just dropped a cub this time of year. A sow would have been cranky as hell.

  3. A female guinea pig.
  4. A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
  5. A mass of metal solidified in a mold.

    • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 160:

      In England, it was generally termed a 'sow', if the weight was above 10 cwts., if below, it was termed a 'pig' from which the present term 'pig iron' is derived.

  6. (derogatory, slang) A contemptible, often fat woman.
  7. A sowbug.
  8. (military) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.
  • (mass of metal solidified in a mold): ingot
  • (contemptible woman): bitch, cow

female pig

contemptible woman

From Middle English sowen, from Old English sāwan, from Proto-West Germanic *sāan, from Proto-Germanic *sēaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-. Compare Dutch zaaien, German säen, Danish så, Norwegian Bokmål så.

sow (third-person singular simple present sows, present participle sowing, simple past sowed, past participle sown or sowed)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).

    When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.

  2. (figurative) To spread abroad; to propagate. (usu. negative connotation)

    • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 6:

      And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.

    • 1963 June, G. Freeman Allen, “The success of diesel-hydraulics on the German Federal Railway”, in Modern Railways, page 386:

      Not surprisingly, it has sown doubt among other operators of diesel-hydraulics; […] .

    • 2024 January 25, Marin Scotten, “‘Laying claim to nature’s work’: plant patents sow fear among small growers”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:

      ‘Laying claim to nature’s work’: plant patents sow fear among small growers [title]

  3. (figurative) To scatter over; to besprinkle.

    • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC:

      The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, […] and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

      [He] sowd with Starrs the heav'n.

  4. Obsolete spelling of sew.

disperse seeds

spread about, propagate

scatter

sow

  1. Alternative form of sowe

sow

  1. Alternative form of sowen (“to torment”)