Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SOW, v.t. [pret. sowed; pp. sowed or sown. Sax. sawan; G. säen; D. zaajen; Sw. så; Dan. saaer; Russ. siyu; perhaps L. sevi. This word is probably contracted.]

1. To scatter on ground, for the purpose of growth and the production of a crop; as, to sow good seed; to sow a bushel of wheat or rye to the acre; to sow oats, clover or barley; to sow seed in drills, or to sow it broad-cast. Oats and flax should he sown early in the spring.
2. To scatter seed over for growth; as, to sow ground or land; to sow ten or a hundred acres in a year.
3. To spread or to originate; to propagate; as, to sow discord. Born to afflict my Marcia's family, / And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers. – Addison.
4. To supply or stock with seed. The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles. – Hale.
5. To scatter over; to besprinkle. He sow'd with stars the heaven. / Morn now ow'd the earth with orient pearl. – Milton.