Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOW, v.t. [Sax. bugan, bygan; W. bwan, and bacu, to bend, to grapple; G. biegen, beugen; D. boogen, buigen; Sw. böya; Dan. böyer, to bend.]

1. To bend; to inflect; as, to bow vines.
2. To bend the body in token of respect or civility; as, to bow the head.
3. To bend or incline toward, in condescension. Bow down thine ear to the poor. – Eccles.
4. To depress; to crush; to subdue. His heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave. He bows the nations to his will.

BOW'A-BLE, a.

Of a flexible disposition. [Not in use.]

BOW'BEAR-ER, n. [bow and bear.]

An under officer of the forest, whose duty is to inform of trespasses. – Cowel.

BOW'BENT, a. [bow and bent.]

Crooked. – Milton.

BOW'DYE, n.

A kind of scarlet color, superior to madder, but inferior to the true scarlet grain for fixedness, and duration; first used at Bow, near London. – Encyc.

BOW'ED, pp.

Bent; like a bow.

BOW'ED, pp.

Bent; crushed; subdued.

BOW'EL, v.t.

To take out the bowels; to eviscerate; to penetrate the bowels. – Ainsworth. Ash.

BOW'EL-LESS, a.

Without tenderness or pity.

BOW'ELS, n. [plur. G. bauch; D. buik; Sw. buk; Dan. bug; Fr. boyau; W. bog; a swelling; bogel, the navel. The sense is, protuberance.]

1. The intestines of an animal; the entrails, especially of man: the heart. – 2 Cor. vi. 12.
2. The interior part of any thing; as, the bowels of the earth.
3. The seat of pity or kindness; hence, tenderness, compassion, a scriptural sense. Bowel, in the singular, is sometimes used for gut.

BOW'ER, n.¹ [from bow.]

An anchor carried at the bow of a ship. There are generally two bowers, called first and second, great and little, or best and small. – Encyc.

BOW'ER, n.² [Sax. bur, a chamber or private apartment, a hut, a cottage; W. bwr, an inclosure.]

1. A shelter or covered place in a garden, made with boughs of trees bent and twined together. It differs from arbor in that it may be round or square, whereas an arbor is long and arched. – Milton. Encyc.
2. A bed-chamber; any room in a house except the hall. – Spenser. Mason.
3. A country-seat; a cottage. – Shenstone. B. Jonson.
4. A shady recess; a plantation for shade. – W. Brown.

BOW'ER, v.i.

To lodge. – Spenser.

BOW'ER, v.t.

To embower; to inclose. – Shak.

BOW'ERS, or BOWRS, n. [from bow.]

Muscles that bend the joints. – Spenser. Mason.

BOW'ER-Y, a.

Covering; shading as a bower; also containing bowers. – Thomson. A bowery maze that shades the purple streams. – Trumbull.

BOW'ESS, or BOW'ET, n.

A young hawk, when it begins to get out of the nest; a term in falconry. – Encyc. Ash.

BOWGE, v.i.

To swell out. [See Bouge.]

BOWGE, v.t.

To perforate; as, to bouge a ship. – Ainsworth. [I do not find this word in any other author.]

BOW'-GRACE, n.

In sea language, a frame or composition of junk, laid out at the sides, stem, or bows of ships to secure them from injury by ice. – Encyc.

BOW'HAND, n. [bow and hand.]

The hand that draws a bow. – Spenser.

BOW'IE-KNIFE, n.

A long knife, or short sword, used by hunters and others in the western States.

BOW'ING, ppr.

Bending; stooping; making a bow.

BOW'ING-LY, adv.

In a bending manner.

BOWL, n. [D. bol; Fr. boule; Sp. bola; Arm. boul, a ball; W. pel.]

A ball of wood used for play on a level plat of ground.