| 释义 |
▪ I. yow, int.|jaʊ|
[Imitative.]
a. An exclamation of vague meaning.
c1440York Myst. xxx. 295 Yowe! þat schalke shuld not shamely be shente.
(b) In mod.Austral. and N.Z. use = wow int. 2.
a1943L. Esson in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 232 Not er shutter lifted Since they jugged 'im. Yow! 1978P. Grace Mutuwhenua vi. 35, I know. Matter of fact, some of those girls you went round with. Yow! 1983‘F. Parrish’ Bait on Hook viii. 111 The rain came... ‘Yow,’ said Cedric, and shot back into the pub.
b. An imitation of the yelp or bark of a dog, or the miaow of a cat; also as n. and v. (reduplicated yow-yow).
1820Edin. Mag. May 452 To yow, to caterwaul. 1837Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Spectre Tapp., Yow!—yeough!—yeough!—yow!—yow! yelled a hapless sufferer from beneath the table. 1839Ibid., Cynotaph, Cupid, of ‘Yow-Yow’-ing memory. 1866T. Seaton From Cadet to Col. I. iv. 103 A mob of pretty dogs, yow-yowing musically after a poor little beast.
Add:c. An exclamation of pain, fear, or dismay. See also ow int.2
1941Dandy Comic 20 Sept. 15/2 (in figure) Yow! What's hit me? 1952N.Y. Post 16 Oct. 36/3 (in figure) Yow! 1977B. Cleary Ramona & her Father ii. 51 ‘Yow!’ said Ramona, when her father tried to lift the crown. 1989Big Comic Fortnightly 16 Sept. 16/3 Clonk! Yow! That's Mum's favourite potted plant! Take the blindfold off!
▪ II. yow, n. Austral. slang.|jaʊ|
[Origin unknown.]
In phr. to keep yow, to keep a look-out, esp. in order to protect some criminal activity.
1942E. Langley Pea Pickers xix. 283 You keep yow,..and whistle..if anyone comes along. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai xii. 206 Molly kept a look out (‘kept yow’, as we used to say).
▪ III. yow(e
see yove; obs. f. yew, you.
▪ IV. yow(e
obs. (exc. dial.) ff. ewe n.1; also attrib.
1459–60Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 320 Pro emend. unius muri juxta le yowecote. 1521–2Churchw. Acc., Croscombe (Somerset Rec. Soc.) 36 Ed. Wynsor geve unto the chorch ij. yows the prisse iijs. iiijd. 1566in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1584, 208/2 Pastura lie yow-flokkis sive aliarum ovium quarumcunque de Pawinshill. 1903‘T. Collins’ Such is Life (1937) v. 249 He went out back, Cooper's creek way, with three thousand gunbar yowes. 1925‘H. McDiarmid’ Sangschaw 2 Ae weet forenicht i' the yow-trummle I saw yon antrin thing. 1978Jnl. Lakeland Dial. Soc. xl. 14 I' a field wid sum yows in ther was a crab apple tree. 1979L. Derwent Border Bairn i. 15 Her brother, the shepherd..accepted me more or less as one of his flock. A yowe or a glimmer, a stirk or a stot. |