Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOW, n.² [See Bow, to bend.]

1. An instrument of war and hunting, made of wood, or other elastic matter, with a string fastened to each end. The bow being bent by drawing the string, and suddenly returning to its natural state by its elastic force, throws an arrow to a great distance, and with force sufficient to kill an animal. It is of two kinds, the long-bow, and the cross-bow, arbalet or arbalest. The use of the bow is called archery.
2. Any thing bent, or in form of a curve; the rainbow; the doubling of a string in a knot; the part of a yoke which embraces the neck; &c.
3. A small machine, formed with a stick and hairs, which being drawn over the strings of an instrument of music, causes it to sound.
4. A beam of wood or brass, with three long screws that direct a lathe of wood or steel to any arch; used in forming drafts of ships, and projections of the sphere, or wherever it is necessary to draw large arches. – Harris.
5. An instrument for taking the sun's altitude at sea, consisting of a large arch of ninety degrees graduated, a shank or staff, a side-vane, a sight-vane, and a horizon-vane: now disused. – Encyc.
6. An instrument in use among smiths for turning a drill; with turners, for turning wood; with hatters, for breaking fur and wool.
7. Bows of a saddle, are the 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. – Farrier's Dict.