| 释义 |
▪ I. cow, n.1|kaʊ|
Forms: sing. 1–4 cu, 3–4 ku, 3–6 cou, kou, kow, 4–7 cowe, kowe, (5 cough, 6 coowe), 3– cow. Plural cows, kine |kaɪn|, north. kye |kaɪ|: see below.
[A Common Teut. and Common Indo-germanic word: OE. cú = OFris. kú, OS. có (MDu. koe, Du. koe, LG. ko), OHG. chuo (MHG. kuo, G. kuh), Icel. kýr acc. and dat. kú (:—kû-z, Sw., Da. ko, koe):—OTeut. *kōu-z, *kô-z, fem.:—Aryan gwōus, acc. gwōm, whence Skr. gāús, gām, gav-, go-, Gr. βοῦς, βοϝ-, βο-, L. bōs, bov-, bo-, ox; the word being of both genders outside Teutonic.
The ū in OE., Fris., and ON., against the original ō retained in OS. and OHG., is perh. to be explained from an original Teutonic inflexion kō(u)s, kôm, kôwez, kôwi, pl. kôwez, kôwôm, kō(u)miz, whence, by regular passage of original ôw before vowels into û, gen. kûiz, dat. kûi, pl. kûiz, etc. Hence by levelling in the separate langs., kô- or kû- (umlaut kŷ-), throughout. (Prof. Sievers.)
The OE. inflexion was: Sing. gen. cúe, cú, later, after o-stems, cuus, cús; dat. cý; Pl. nom. acc. cýe, cý, gen. cúa, later, after n-stems, cúna, north. cýna; dat. cúum. The umlaut pl. cýe, cý: —OTeut. *kôwez, kûiz (cf. also ON. kýr, OS. koji, OHG. chuowi, chuoi (chuoji), chuo, Ger. kühe) gave regularly ME. ky, kye, still retained in Sc. and N. Eng. But Southern Eng. at an early period took an extended form kȳn, later kyne, kine, still used, with slightly archaic flavour, beside the later cows, which hardly appears before the 17th c. ME. kȳn is to be compared with brethren, children, and other southern plurals in -n. In this particular case, the use of the gen. pl. cúna, cýna (in 12th c. cune, kyne) with numerals (see 1 b β below), may have contributed to the prevalence of the kȳn, kyne form.]
1. a. The female of any bovine animal (as the ox, bison, or buffalo); most commonly applied to the female of the domestic species (Bos Taurus).
a800Corpus Gloss. 2085 Vacca cuu. 1085O.E. Chron. Ne furðon..an oxe ne an cu ne an swin. a1225Ancr. R. 416 Vor þeonne mot heo þenchen of þe kues foddre. Ibid. 418 Ȝif eni mot nede habben ku. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 193/33 Heo bi-gan to milken þis cov. a1300Cursor M. 6763 (Cott.) Ox or ass, or cou or scepe. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 11 He þat steliþ an oxe or a cowe. 1486Bk. St. Albans A v b, Hoote mylke of a cowe. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. v. i. 31 Where the Bull and Cow are both milk-white, They neuer do beget a cole-blacke Calfe. 1758J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 302 Milk, warm from the Cow. 1819Shelley Cyclops 129 Cow's milk there is, and store of curdled cheese. 1853Mayne Reid Boy Hunt. xiii. They are buffaloes..two bulls and a cow. 1885–6(Xmas Card) Song, ‘Three Acres and a Cow’ i, We're all to have a bit of land, and learn to speed the plough, And live for ever happy on Three Acres and a Cow. 1886Jesse Collings in Times 25 Feb. 5/4 ‘Three Acres and a Cow’ is the title of a leaflet issued by the Allotments and Small Holdings Association, 95 Colmore-row, Birmingham. This leaflet was..the origin of the phrase.
b. pl. (α) 1 cýe, cý, 3–4 kij, 4 kuy, 5–6 key, 3– ky, kye, kie. (Now Sc. and north. dial.)
c825Vesp. Psalter lxvii. 31 Betwih cye folca [L. inter vaccas populorum]. c1000ælfric Gen. xxxiii. 13 Ic hæbbe..ᵹeeane eowe and ᵹecelfe cy mid me. a1300Cursor M. 4566 (Cott.) Fatt and faire kij [other MSS. ky]. c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 1259 Boþe to cayre at þe kart & þe kuy mylke. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4732 Fifty þousand ky. 1424E.E. Wills (1882) 57, I wul my wyf haf half my mylche kye. 1511Pilton Churchw. Acc. (1890) 60 For iij key, xxxs. 1513Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 185 Tydy ky lowys, veilys by thame rynnis. 1534Act 26 Hen. VIII c. 5 §1 Any person..with..oxen, kye, or any other cattal. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (1885) 29 In this Wod war nocht onlie kye bot oxne and bules snawquhyte. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 55 About April some take Kie to hire, which have none of their own, and other buy Kie to farme them out. 1664Sir R. Fanshawe tr. Horace's Odes i. xxxi, Hot Calabrias goodly kye. 1786Burns Twa Dogs 234 The kye stood rowtin i' the loan. 1871Palgrave Lyr. Poems 15 The sunny pastures of the kye. 1873Gibbon Lack of Gold i, The song of the milkmaid milking the kye. 1877Holderness Gloss. (E.D.S.), Kye, cows. In West Holderness, kye is used to denote particular herds, kine being used for cows in general.
(β) ? 3–4 cun, ? 3–5 kyn; 4 kuyn, kin [gen. pl. 1 cúna, cýna, 2–3 *cūne, *kȳne, 4 kine], 4–5 kijn, kiyn, kyin, kyȝn, kien, ken, kene, 4–6 kyen, kyne, keen(e, 6– kine. The spelling with u |y| is early s.w.; cén, kén, keen is Kentish.
[c960Rushw. Gosp. Luke xiv. 19 Dael cyna ic bohte fife. c1000ælfric Gen. xxxii. 15 Feowertiᵹ cuna.] c1300K. Alis. 760 Oxen, schep, and eke kuyn [orig. ken, rime slen]. c1305St. Kenelm 233 in E.E.P. (1862) 54 Þer nas non of alle þe kyn þat half so moche mulc ȝeue. c1305Satire ibid. 155 Tripis and kine fete and schepen heuedes. 1340Ayenb. 191 Alle þe prestes Ken. 13..Chron. Eng. 592 in Ritson Met. Rom. II. 294 Fif thousent fatte cun. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 142 To kepe kyne [v. rr. kyen(e, ken, kijn] in þe felde. 1382Wyclif Ps. lxvii. 31 In the kiyn [1388 kien] of puplis. c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 11 Thre kyn [v. rr. keen, kyne, kyen] and eek a scheep. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 305 (Mätzner) Þe seuene kuyn. a1400Octouian 672 Of ken and oxe. c1400Mandeville (1839) xxvi. 269 Hornes..of kyȝn. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 64/3 Two wylde kyen. 1495Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. (W. de W.) xviii. ix. 850 Kene lowe whan they be a bullynge. 1529More Suppl. Soulys Wks. 320/1 That he bad them preache to oxen & keene and their calues to. a1533Ld. Berners Huon cv. 351 What in beeffes keen and hogges. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. xxxviii. 56 Spurry is good..fodder for oxen and kyen, for it causeth kyen to yeelde store of milke. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 519 Pharaohs leane Kine. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 647 A herd of Beeves, faire Oxen and faire Kine. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. vii. 46 She looked..after her rents in money, kine, and honey.
(γ) 7– cows.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 55 Kine or Cowes which are the female of this kind. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 9 In Germany, Poland, and Switzerland, every peasant keeps two or three cows. 1877H. A. Levenson Sport in many Lands 514 Surely the same protection might be afforded to the American bison by the enactment of laws preventing cows being killed during certain times.
(δ) kyis (kaise).
(Kaise appears to be only the Cheshire pronunciation of cows, with aï or aü for |aʊ|. Sc. Kyis is perh. a double pl.)
1578Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868) 171 Priestis, tak na kyis [rime cryis]. a1810Tannahill Poems (1846) 88 Quoth Tom of Lancashire, Thoose are foin kaise thai 'rt driving there.
c. pl. Cattle. U.S.
1869Overland Monthly III. 127 The ‘cow-whip’..is used only in driving the herd, which is often called ‘the cows’. 1930Raine & Barnes Cattle 60 Cows, as all cattle were called regardless of age and sex, were an investment which traveled on the hoof.
2. a. In many phrases and proverbial expressions.
1399Langl. Rich. Redeles 111. 262 As becometh a kow to hoppe in a cage. 14..Eight Goodly Questions viii. in Chaucer's Wks. (ed. Bell) VIII. 189 God sendeth a shrewd cow a short horne. 1547J. Heywood Dial. ii. i, She is in this mariage As comely as a cowe in a cage. 1562― Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 43 Euery man as he loueth, Quoth the good man, whan he kyst his coowe. 1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 25 It is said, God sends a curst Cow short hornes, but to a Cow too curst he sends none. 1610A. Cooke Pope Joan in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 95 Drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 158, I warrant you lay a Bed till the Cows came home. c1776Miss F. Graham in Chambers Pop. Poems Scot. (1829) 11 The black cow [= misfortune] on your foot ne'er trode. c1800Hogg Song, Tween the gloamin and the mirk when the kye comes hame. 1875J. C. Wilcocks Sea Fisherman (ed. 3) 121 ‘There,’ exclaimed Rogers, ‘that 'ull hold us till all's blue, and the cows comes home in the morning’.
b. † to a cow's thumb: to a nicety. † brown cow: humorous name for a barrel of beer. the cow with the iron tail: i.e. the pump.
1681W. Robertson Phraseol. 404 To a cows thumb, ad amussim. 1685H. More Cursory Refl. 27 Mr. Gadbury..will rectifie the Time to a Cows Thumb. a1704T. Brown Wks. (1760) I. 40 (D.) Since you see 'tis as plain as a cow's thumb. Ibid. III. 26 (D.) You may fit yourself to a cow's thumb among the Spaniards. 1725Ramsay Gentle Shepherd iii. ii. Prol., The auld anes think it best With the brown cow to clear their een. 1798J. Middleton Surv. Middlesex 337 A considerable cow-keeper in Surrey has a pump of this kind, which goes by the name of the famous black cow..and is said to yield more than all the rest put together. 1886All Year Round 14 Aug. 33 The cow with the iron tail is still milked a great deal in London.
3. a. The female of certain other large animals, e.g. elephant, rhinoceros, whale, seal, etc., the male of which is called a bull. See bull n.1 2.
1725[see bull n.1 2]. 1766Farrington in Pennant Zool. (1812) I. 171 The vulgar name is sea calf, and on that account, the male is called the bull, and the female the cow. 1886Guillemard Cruise of Marchesa I. 200 The female [of the Fur Seal], or cow as she is always termed.
b. attrib. In sense of ‘female’, ‘she-’.
1751C. Gist Jrnl. 4 Mar. (1893) 56 At Night I killed a fine barren Cow-Buffaloe. 1817S. R. Brown Western Gaz. 198 The cow buffaloe was equal to any meat I ever saw. 1839Knickerbocker XIII. 386 An enormous cow-whale rose close beside her wounded offspring. 1863Spring in Lapl. 184, I saw a magnificent cow elk quietly walking up the mountain-side. 1880G. W. Cable Grandissimes xxviii. 237 In dimmer recesses the Cow alligator, with her nest hard by. 1946T. M. Stanwell-Fletcher Driftwood Valley 194 When the cow moose is alarmed, it is not uncommon for her to desert her calf.
4. transf.
†a. A timid, faint-hearted person, a coward. Obs. Cf. cow-baby, -hearted, cowish a. 2.
1581B. R. tr. Herodotus 11 What a one shal I seeme to bee unto my Lady? will she not thinke herselfe to be coupled with a cow? 1611Cotgr. s.v. Crier, The veriest cow in a companie brags most. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle 11. 731 Vain vpstart braggadochio! heartlesse cow!
b. Applied to a coarse or degraded woman. Also, loosely, any woman, used esp. as a coarse form of address.
1696Phillips, Cow..the Emblem..of a Lazy, Dronish, beastly Woman, who is likened to a Cow. 1868–9Parl. Papers XXXI. 123/1 It's all such stinking hussies as you who are keeping men out of their work, you stinking cow. 1891Farmer Slang and its Analogues, Cow, a woman; a prostitute. 1914C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iv. iv. 930 Good job if that love-boy of hers does punch into her. Silly cow! She ought to know better. 1933‘G. Orwell’ Down & Out xxi. 153 ‘Now, you cow,’ I said, ‘move it yourself.’ 1936‘D. Smith’ Call it a Day in Famous Plays 1935–6 239 And then a cow of a woman upset a tea-tray in the stalls. 1960D. Lessing Pursuit of Eng. vi. 218 It's just that stupid cow her mother. 1960P. Hastings Sandals for my Feet ii. vi. 192 You shan't do this to me, you filthy old cow!
c. An objectionable person or thing, a distasteful situation, etc. Austral. and N.Z. slang.
1891T. Cottle Melton's Luck xviii. 78 The less spirited [horses] become regular cows (as we called them) and only go because they are obliged to. 1894Bulletin (Sydney) 5 May 13/3 Well, 'e ups to me and sez ‘Yer a mean cow.’ 1904‘S. Rudd’ Sandy's Sel. iii. 17 Bring th' sheep bell (you cow, stand!) I foun' th' other day. 1916Anzac Bk. 31/2 'Ee's a fair cow, 'e is. 1918N.Z.E.F. Chron. 7 June 204/1 I'll get even with the cows for that. 1929W. Smyth Girl from Mason Creek xv. 163 ‘Cow of a job,’ he muttered. 1934T. Wood Cobbers ii. 15 In a continent where..(to the punter when the favourite is unplaced) a dark horse can be a fair cow [etc.]. 1936M. Franklin All that Swagger lii. 489, I never read their cows of letters. 1940F. D. Davison Woman at Mill 148 Looking for work's a cow of a game! 1959P. H. Johnson Unspeakable Skipton xv. 137 [Austral. loq.] ‘He's like the rest of you, for ever taking umbrage about something. It's a fair cow.’ She had forgotten herself. 1963D. Adsett Magpie Sings 10 There's that truant joker too. Rotten cow.
5. a. Mining. A kind of self-acting brake with two prongs or horns used in ascending an inclined line of rails: see quot. 1851. (Also called bull.)
1834O. D. Hedley Safe Transit Railw. Carriages on Tyne & Wear (Newcastle) 28 The cow is essential to the safety of the carriage; for should the rope, the centre crooks, or the chains which connect the carriages together, break..it takes firm hold of the ground, and thus sustains the carriages, which are prevented descending the plane. 1840F. Whishaw Railw. Gt. Brit. 418 Each train is furnished with a cow, or trailer, for stopping the train. 1851Greenwell Coal-tr. Terms Northumb. & Durh. 17 Cow, a wooden or iron fork, hung loosely upon the last waggon of a set, ascending an inclined plane. Its use is to stick into the ground, and stop the set, in case of the rope breaking.
b. Sometimes applied to the brake or ‘clog’ of a gin.
6. See quot. [Perh. not the same word.]
1843Marryat M. Violet xxxiii. note, A cow is a kind of floating raft peculiar to the western rivers of America, being composed of immense pine trees tied together, and upon which a log cabin is erected.
7. attrib. and Comb.
Several of these appear already in OE., where it is difficult to separate real compounds from syntactical combinations, since the orig. genitive cúe was, when contracted to cú, identical with the nom. But where it was really a genitive, the later form of the case cús, cuus often appears as an alternative. Such are cú butere, cú cealf, cú éage (cús éage) cow's eye, cúe mesa cow's dung, cú horn (cuus horn) cow's horn, cú tæᵹl cow's tail.
a. attrib. Of or belonging to a cow or cows (freq. U.S., with cow- in the sense of cattle), as cow-beef, cow-bone, cow-breath, cow-broth, cow-butter, cow-byre, cow-cheese, cow-country, cow-crib, cow-flesh, cow-garth, cow-hair, † cow-hold, cow-kind, cow-paddock (Austral. and N.Z.), cow-pasture, cow-shed, cow-shippon, cow-stable, cow-stall, cow-thief, cow-track, cow-trail, cow-whip, cow-yard;
b. similative and parasynthetic, as cow eye; cow-bellied, cow-eyed, cow-like adjs.;
c. objective or obj. gen., as cow-driver, cow-driving, cow-farmer, cow-jobber, cow-lifter, cow-lifting, cow-stealer, cow-stealing.
1588Cogan Haven Health ciii. (1612) 113 *Cow-biefe if it be young..is better then both [ox-beef and bull-beef]. 1883Pall Mall G. 7 Apr. 7/1 Horseflesh was being sold in the parish as beef..Very few outside of the trade were able to distinguish it from good cow-beef.
1567Trial Treas. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 272 This *cow-bellied knave doth come from the cart.
1913Masefield Daffodil Fields 32 Some half-wild hounds Gnawed at the *cowbones littered on the field. 1922Joyce Ulysses 476 Free cowbones for soup.
1852Hawthorne Blithedale Rom. I. iv. 67 Let her..help in the kitchen, and take the *cow-breath at milking-time.
1840Mill Diss. & Disc. (1859) I. 146 A hundred millions of human beings think it..the most dreadful pollution to drink *cow-broth.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 268 On huniᵹe and on *cu buteran. 1545T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 113 Take an ounce of cowe butter. 1887A. S. Hill in Times 4 Aug. 8/3 The process by which it [bogus butter] is made to resemble cow butter.
1583T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. 1. 87 a, A pounde of *Cowe cheese.
1882C. M. Chase Editor's Run 160 There is no excuse in a *cow country like this for a landlord to set before his guests oleomargarine. 1938P. Lawlor House of Templemore xiii. 144 The first trip had been to the cow country of Taranaki. 1945Reader's Digest Sept. 109/1 With nearly all its cattle behind wire, the ranch junked the oldest and most revered custom of the cow country. 1960N. Hilliard Maori Girl i. i. 9 The cow-country is owned by pakehas.
1811Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 33 Set on the carpenter to repair *cow-cribs.
1771Carroll Papers in Maryland Hist. Mag. XIV. 136, I have order'd Squires to go downe tomorrow with the *Cow driver. 1851J. J. Hooper Widow Rugby's Husb. 102 The ‘Colonel’ being what in his region and times was called a cow-driver. 1932W. Kelley Inchin' Along 211 The ox drivers—‘cow drivers’, they were called.
1870R. Broughton Red as Rose I. 168 Looking calm invitation at him out of her great, fine, passionless, *cow eyes.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 495 The milk is measured and served out by the *cow-farmer.
1528Paynel Salerne's Regim. E iij, He saythe..that *cowe fleshe nourisheth moche.
1570Levins Manip. 34/18 Y⊇ *cowgarth, bouile.
1812H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., Archit. Atoms, I sing how casual bricks..Encounter'd casual *cowhair, casual lime.
1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 120 Shee letteth the mucke of the *cowe-holde to poore folkes for 8d. a weeke.
1723Lond. Gaz. No. 6171/5 Richard Foster..*Cowjobber.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 332 Þere ne was cow ne *cowkynde þat conceyued hadde Þat wolde belwe after boles. 1675Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 245 Or man would quickly all cow-kind destroy. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 18 When..we have described the varieties of the cow kind, we shall pass on to the buffalo.
1828–40Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) II. 405 Indicted to stand his trial for fire-raising and *cow-lifting. 1888Times (Weekly Ed.) 21 Dec. 4/3 A grand cowlifting expedition.
1728Pope Dunc. 11. 164 His be yon Juno of majestic size, With *cow-like udders, and with ox-like eyes.
1931V. Palmer Separate Lives 125 The shady creek-bend in the corner of the *cow-paddock where the grass grew. 1956R. Finlayson in C.K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 23 They followed him up the drive past the cowpaddock gate.
1523MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp. Canterb., Rec. for a *Cow-pasture ijd. 1878Emerson in Amer. Rev. CXXVI. 412 In our own door-yards and cow-pastures.
1886Act 49–50 Vict. c. 49 §9 Any *cowshed or other place in which an animal..is kept.
1859Sala Gas-light & D. 187 Black are the hedgerows..and lonely *cowshippons.
1648Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 185 As you go by y⊇ *Cowstable to y⊇ Ings. 1817–8Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 4 The yard, cow-stable, pig-sty, hen-house. 1882E. Eggleston Hoosier Schoolboy ii. 12 He found ‘King Milkmaid’ written on the door of his father's cow-stable.
1830Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. (1863) 269 She..turned the coach-house into a *cow-stall.
1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 631 Neither his commands nor his example could infuse courage into that mob of *cowstealers.
1820Shelley Hymn Merc. ii, A *cow-stealing, A night-watching and door-waylaying thief.
1781in R. Putnam Memoirs (1903) 184 Your favor of the 25, with the *cow-thieves, arrived safe. 1903A. Adams Log Cowboy vii. 95, I think you're common cow thieves.
1678in Duxbury (Mass.) Rec. (1893) 30 There being..a *cow track going over the said river. 1857Olmsted Journ. Texas 93 Our road was little better than a cow-track. 1901Kipling Kim xiii. 336 The lama had led Kim by cow-track and byroad. 1902N.Z. Illustr. Mag. V. 379/2 You have two razor-backs and a gully, and no way in except this cow-track.
1853‘P. Paxton’ Yankee in Texas 100 He will see them pouring in..by every possible road,..wagon roads, main road, ‘*cow trails’, and ‘blazes’. 1920J. M. Hunter Trail Drivers Texas 151 All the Texas outfit..took the cow trail for Texas.
1853‘P. Paxton’ Yankee in Texas 93 The rest relied for offence and defence upon their long *cow-whips—an implement consisting of a short eighteen-inch handle, to which a very heavy lash from twelve to eighteen feet long is attached. 1869Cow-whip [see sense 1 c above].
1798Bloomfield Farmer's Boy, Spring 186 Spring makes e'en a miry *cow-yard clean. 1872E. Peacock Mabel Heron I. 296 The two apprentices were mending ‘tumbrils’ in Mr. Todd's cow-yard.
8. Special combinations: cow-bail Austral. and N.Z., = bail n.3 5; cow-bailie (Sc.), one who has charge of the cows on a common, etc.; cow-banger dial., Austral. and N.Z. slang, a dairy farmer, one who works on a dairy farm; so cow-banging vbl. n.; cow-barton, a cow-yard; cow blackbird (see cow bunting below); cow-blakes (dial.), dried cow-dung used for fuel; † cow-brawl, a transl. of F. ranz des vaches; cow-bug (U.S.), a species of beetle; cow bunting (U.S.) = cow-bird 2 a; cow-camp U.S., a camp of cowboys; † cow-carrier, a ship used for cattle transport; † cow-cloom, a mixture of cow-dung and clay; cow-clap, -clot, -dab (local), a plat of cow-dung; cow-cocky Austral. and N.Z. slang, a dairy farmer; so cow-cockying vbl. n.; cow-creamer [creamer c], a cream-jug shaped like a cow; cow-doctor, one who treats the diseases of cows; cow-down, a down on which cows pasture, an upland common; cow-dung, the dung or excrement of cows; hence cow-dung bob, cow-dung fly, a grub and fly used by anglers; cow-feeder, a dairy-farmer; cow-flop (also -flap), (a) dial., any of several plants, esp. the foxglove, Digitalis purpurea; (b) dial. and U.S., a patch of cow-dung; † cow-gang, a common on which cows pasture; cow-girl, a girl who tends cows; in U.S. fem. of cow-boy 3; cow-gun colloq., a heavy naval gun; cow-hand orig. U.S., one engaged in the tending or ranching of cattle; cow-hitch (Naut.), ‘a slippery or lubberly hitch’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867); cow hocks, hocks which turn inwards like those of a cow; so cow-hocked ppl. a. (said of horses and dogs); cow-horn, the horn of a cow; a horn used for calling cattle; attrib. in cow-horn forceps (see quot.); hence cow-horned ppl. a., shaped like a cow's horn; cow-horse U.S., a horse used in herding or driving cattle; cow-juice slang, milk; cow-killer ant (U.S.), a Texan species of the family Mutillidæ of hymenopterous insects; † cow-lask, diarrhœa in cows; cow-lease, cow-pasture (see lease n.); cow-leech, a cow-doctor, ‘one who professes to cure distempered cows’ (J.); hence cow-leeching, the profession of a cow-leech; cow-lick, a lock or curl of hair which looks as if it had been licked by a cow (cf. calf-lick); cow-lily U.S., the marsh marigold, Caltha palustris, or the yellow water-lily, Nuphar advena; cow-man, (a) a man who attends to cows; (b) a cattle-keeper or ‘ranchman’ in the western U.S.; † cow-meat, fodder for cows; cow-milker, a mechanical contrivance for milking cows; cow-pad, -pat, = cow-flop (b); cow-paps, local name of a marine polyp, Alcyonarium digitatum; cow-path, a path made or used by cows; cow-pilot, a fish (Abudefduf saxatilis) of the West Indies and adjacent coast of the U.S.; cow-plat = cow-clap; cow-pony U.S., a pony used in cattle-ranching; cow-puncher (U.S.), a cow-driver in the western States; so cow-punching; † cow-remover (U.S.) = cow-catcher; cow-run, a common on which cows pasture; ˈcowscape [after landscape] colloq., a painting of a rural scene which includes cows; cow sense U.S., intelligence in the care of cattle; cow's grass, pasture for a cow; cow-shark, a shark of the family Hexanchidæ or Notidanidæ; cow-shot Cricket slang, a pull made by hitting across the ball to leg; cow-spanker Austral. and N.Z. slang, a dairy farmer, one who works on a dairy farm; so cow-spanking vbl. n.; cow-stone (local), a boulder of the green-sand; cow-sucker, ? a hedge-hog; cow-tick, an insect infesting cows; cow-town U.S., a town forming a local centre in a stock-raising district; a small, isolated town; cow-troopial = cow-bird 2 a; cow-whistle (U.S.), a whistle used by an engine-driver to scare cows from the line; † cow-whit, a payment to the vicar in lieu of the tithe of milk; cow-woman, a woman who tends cows; cow-work U.S., work connected with the tending or rounding-up of cattle.
1851E. Ward Jrnl. 12 May (1951) 180 The *cow bails in the stockyard are fastened up. 1853G. B. Earp N.Z. viii. 123 A milking yard, at one end of which is placed the milking shed, cow bails, and calf house. 1936M. Franklin All that Swagger xxxix. 370 He whitewashed the dairy and cowbails.
1837Lockhart Scott ii, Auld Sandy Ormistoun, called from the most dignified part of his function the *cow bailie.
1892Leeds Merc. (Suppl.) 30 Jan. 7/3 Yorkshire Dialect Words{ddd}*caa-banger, a man who attends to cows. 1941Baker N.Z. Slang v. 41 Cowspanker (we also use cattle⁓banger and cow-banger).
1912B. E. Baughan Brown Bread from Colonial Oven vi. 118 It's a poor job, *cowbangin' all alone.
1888Hardy Wessex Tales I. 71 The dairyman..with manly kindliness always kept the gossip in the *cow-barton from annoying Rhoda. 1929Masefield Hawbucks 34 He went out to the cow-barton to see the farm-men.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 323 Casings or *Cow-blakes, Cow-dung dryed and used for fewel as it is in many places where other fewel is scarce.
1756tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 174 On the recruits for the Swiss regiments piping or singing the *cow-brawl, a common tune among the Alpine boors.
1880New Virginians I. 103 There is a black one nearly 2 in. long..and nearly an inch across..with yellowish spots on its back, which they call—I know not why—the *cow-bug.
1844J. E. De Kay Zool. N.Y. ii. Birds 143 The *Cow Bunting, Cow Blackbird, or Cowpen-bird, derives its various names from the circumstance of its following cattle in the fields.
1873W. A. Richards Diary 28 Aug. in Annals of Wyoming (1931) VIII. 495 Mr. Richards..has a *cow camp (on Red Creek) three miles north. 1945M. James Cherokee Strip 8 Mr. Howell knew a cow-camp cook in Colorado who was bitten on the thumb by a rattler.
1666Lond. Gaz. No. 68/1 Two Fleets..the *Cow Carriers from Ireland, and the Bristol Fleet from Virginia.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 184 Wiker-Hives made with spleets of Wood, and daubed with *Cow-cloom tempered for that purpose.
1710R. Ward Life H. More 190 Nothing..but a *Cow-Clot.
1914Bulletin (Sydney) 7 May 22/2 *Cow Cocky Host: The piece from Sydney..is goin' to marry 'im. 1916Ibid. 30 Mar. 47/2 This is not sordid, slaving, cow-cocky country. 1934N. Scanlan Winds of Heaven 322 The cow Cockies were still in bondage. 1940F. Sargeson Man & Wife (1944) 22 My father was a cow-cocky, but he couldn't make cow-cockying pay. 1962Coast to Coast 1961–62 95, I could..swear like a cow-cocky.
1931E. Wenham Domestic Silver v. 98 Various curious shapes were adapted to these small jugs... Those known as ‘*cow creamers’ may still be procured. 1938Wodehouse Code of Woosters i. 24 He had an eighteenth-century cow-creamer for sale... It was a silver cow..about four inches high and six long. Its back opened on a hinge.
1780–6Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes R. Academicians Wks. 1790 I. 117 Let but a *cowdab show its grass-green face.
1789Trans. Soc. Arts VII. 73 The ignorance of *cow-doctors. 1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 232 Allowance of 5 per cent. on the gross produce of the dairy for losses, cow doctor and other contingent expenses.
1724S. Switzer Pract. Fruit Gard. viii. lix. (1727) 323 In dryish upland pasture ground, in sheep-walks and *cow-downs. 1793–1813Agric. Survey Wilts. 17 (E.D.S.) Cow commons, called cow downs.
1626Bacon Sylva §401 The Seed..having been steeped all night in Water mixed with *Cow-dung. 1839E. D. Clarke Trav. 118/1 For fuel they burn weeds gathered in the steppes, as well as bundles of reed and cow-dung.
1880Boy's own Bk. 265 *Cow-dung-bob is found under cow-dung, and resembles a gentle.
1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 102 The *Cow dung fly..is used in cold windy days. 1867F. Francis Angling vi. (1880) 205 The Cow-dung, or Lion fly..is one of the most useful of the land flies.
1805Edin. Rev. VII. 32 Our author..found the trade of a *cow feeder a singularly profitable one. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. ix, A dairy-farmer, or cowfeeder, as they are called in Scotland.
1847Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I. 275/2 *Cowflop, the foxglove. Devon. 1882H. Friend Devon. Plant Names 17 Cowflop. (1) Digitalis purpurea, L. One of the many names for the Foxglove. (2) Avena sativa, L. To distinguish from Tartarian Oats. (3) A tall flower, somewhat like the Great Mullein. 1905Wright Eng. Dial. Dict. Suppl. s.v. cow, Cow-flap, or -flop, cow-dung. 1906Daily Chron. 30 Nov. 6/7 From a village on the fringe of the moorland in Devonshire a correspondent writes:..all around you may hear the foxglove called by its local name, the ‘cow-flap’. 1932F. L. Wright Autobiogr. i. 42 Getting bare feet soiled..in the warm, fresh cow-flops, in the stable or in the lane. 1934H. Williamson Peregrine's Saga (ed. 2) 130 A cowflop in her beak, the buds of whose flowers were not then turned pink.
1583Inquisition in Halliwell Contrib. Eng. Lexicography (1856) 10 From the south end of Winteringham *cowgang to Winteringham haven.
1884E. Barker Through Auvergne 119 We passed a group of *cow-girls singing. 1884Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 28 Nov. 2/3 A beautiful cowgirl lives near Murkel, Taylor county, Neb. She owns some stock, which she personally looks after.
1902J. H. M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 136 His two great ‘*cow-guns’—six-inch naval giants drawn by thirty-two bullocks apiece, and having another thirty-two to each timber. 1909Daily Chron. 24 Sept. 4/4 Its motor machine-guns, its heavy ‘cow-guns’, and howitzers. 1911Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 317 The slow but well-directed fire of my cow-guns.
1886Outing (U.S.) VIII. 3/1 Though a first rate *cow hand he very shortly proved himself to be wholly incapable of acting as head. 1949E. Hyams Not in our Stars 161 I've never known a really good cow-hand quite all there.
1863Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XXIV. 1. 94 [A horse with] short thighs, curby or *cow hocks.
1827Blackw. Mag. Nov. 532/1 Hacks, all rat-tailed, *cow-houghed, ewe-necked. 1884Longm. Mag. Feb. 407 The Italian horse, generally speaking, is..ill-made, cow-hocked, etc.
a1000Laws of Ine 59 *Cuu horn biþ tweᵹea pæninga wurþ. a1605Montgomerie Sonn. lxii. 6 My trumpets tone is terribler be tuyis Nor ȝon couhorne, vhereof ȝe me accuse. 1833H. Martineau Briery Creek ii. 25 The cow-horns were presently no longer heard. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Cow-horn Forceps, a dentist's instrument for extracting molars. That for the upper jaw has one hooked prong like a cow's horn, the other prong being gouge-shaped.
1886Bicycling News 23 Apr. 437/2 The handles are long *cowhorned hollow tubes.
1853‘P. Paxton’ Yankee in Texas 97 The very best *cow horses. 1920C. E. Mulford J. Nelson xxiii. 253 The speedy dash of the trained cow-horse headed them off.
1796Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), *Cow juice, milk. 1938S. Beckett Murphy v. 83 They have been too generous with the cowjuice. 1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren ix. 164 Milk is commonly ‘cow-juice’.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 4/2 A medicine for the *cowlaske.
1854Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. ii. 412 The remaining 40 [acres] in *cowlease ground, home crofts, paddock and homestead.
1745Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 532 To encourage Gentlemen of higher Degrees of Learning than the Farrier and the *Cowleech to make themselves acquainted with the Diseases of Horses, Cows, and other Cattle. 1844S. Bamford Life of Radical 40 His father was a famous cow-leech.
1707–16Mortimer Husb. (J.), There are many pretenders to the art of farriering and *cow-leeching.
1598R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo ii. 86 The lockes or plaine feakes of haire called *cow-lickes, are made turning vpwards. 1879J. Burroughs Locusts & W. Honey (1884) 125 ‘See those cowlicks,’ said an old farmer, pointing to certain patches on the clouds. 1887Judy 23 Feb. 95 The Cowlick on the crown of his head rises up.
1862J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 2nd Ser. ii. ii. 79 There was a pool..spotted with *cow-lilies garish. 1954C. J. Hylander Macmillan Wild Flower Bk. 105 Also known as Cow-lily and Spatterdock, this common member of the Water-lily family can often be found in great numbers. 1958Fernald & Kinsey Edible Wild Plants 197 To some of the north⁓western Indians the seeds of the Cow-Lilies are a very important food.
1677in Topsfield (Mass.) Rec. 20 That popeler is his bound corner tree next to the *Coweman. 1709N. Blundell Diary (1952) v. 96 William Starkey dyed... He was my Cow Man. 1824Heber Jrnl. (1828) I. 229 Herds of the village..under the..care of two or three men ‘gaowale’ (cow-men), etc. 1884Birm. Daily Post 24 Jan. 3/3 Cowman wanted, active, tidy and trustworthy. 1924W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xi. 115 Sam Yerby was an old cowman from Texas. 1948Pop. Western June 34/1 The other cowmen..disliked to deal with Amos.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 102 Som cuntries lack plowmeat, And som doe want *cowmeat.
1862Morn. Star 19 June, The construction of the *cow-milker is very simple, consisting of two diaphragm pumps, etc.
1941Dylan Thomas in Penguin New Writing XI. 77 Dan and I raced among the *cow-pads.
1954Landfall VIII. 273 These green paddocks dotted with thistles and *cow-pats. 1962Punch 28 Mar. 508/3 Eighty cowpats distributed over kitchen garden.
1865in Century Mag. Feb. (1890) 563/3, I shall expect to retain no man beyond the by-road or *cow-path that leads to his house. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon II. 385 A narrow cowpath between it and the columnar basalt cliffs.
1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 275 The ‘Serjeant Major’,..called in Bermuda the ‘*Cow-pilot’, from an alleged habit of being always found in the society of the ‘Cow-fish’, or Ostracion.
1874J. G. McCoy Cattle Trade 126 A few short weeks after the opening of the cattle trade..every stall— fully one hundred or more—would be full of *cow ponies. 1909Westm. Gaz. 29 May 5/3 Racing a cow-pony against a train on the first railway made in Colorado near Denver. 1934Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Nov. 855/3 There are still thousands of cow-ponies trained to follow a galloping steer.
1878S. L. Caldwell Diary 24 Apr. in Colorado Mag. (1939) XVI. 152 At Hugo the *cow-punchers were assembling for the round-up. 1889H. O'Reilly 50 Years on Trail 357 The town was full of cow-punchers, mule-whackers, etc.
1884W. Shepherd Prairie Exper. 35 Each boy, when out *cow-punching, rides from six to ten horses, using them in turns. 1887Pall Mall G. 30 Mar. 6/1 A Wyoming rancheman, who has..spent four seasons big-game shooting and ‘cow-punching’ in that Territory.
1848Amer. Railroad Jrnl. 13 May 305 This apparatus is said, by the inventor, to answer for a snow plough as well as *cow-remover.
1887Pall Mall G. 29 Aug. 12/1 The Government offers facilities for ‘*cow-runs’—that is, pastures common to the hamlet. 1891T. E. Kebbel Old & New 173 A very small percentage are without either allotments, cottage-gardens or cow-runs.
1896Westm. Gaz. 20 Oct. 2/1 An impressionist painter once brought me a Thing, and I made him believe that it really was a portrait of a lady—or was it a *cow-scape? 1938Auden & Isherwood On Frontier i. i, Those exquisite little landscapes (or should I say ‘cowscapes’?) of Ketchling.
1903A. Adams Log Cowboy xx. 309 The wisdom of mounting us well..reflected the good *cow sense of our employer. 1920J. M. Hunter Trail Drivers Texas 299 When a cowboy says that a man has good ‘cow sense’ he means to pay him a high compliment.
1824S. E. Ferrier Inher. xiii, I shall have a croft from you, a *cow's grass and a kailyard. 1884Times (Weekly Ed.) 3 Oct. 14/2 The land..is roughly measured by so many cows' grass.
1922G. Jessop Cricketer's Log vi. 198 My propensity for the ‘*cow shot’. 1928Times 2 July 5/5 R. S. Walker made a glorious half ‘cow-shot’ to mid-wicket which was only a yard short of a 6. 1963Ibid. 13 June 13/3 A series of pulls which ended with a catch at the wicket would appear in this form: ‘After several cow-shots into the Great Beyond, Basher was neatly pouched by the timber-watcher.’
1917E. Miller Camps, Tramps & Trenches (1939) ix. 50 Scummy colonial *cow-spankers and bush-whackers. 1932N. Scanlan Pencarrow ix. 87 A life..among ploughmen, and drovers, and cowspankers. 1963Weekly News (Auckland) 8 May 39/1 The good old New Zealand cowspanker.
1900N.Z. Illustr. Mag. II. 592 There would in time be an end to the eternal round of *cow-spanking, school, and getting up.
1820W. Tooke tr. Lucian I. 96 Innumerable asps..*cow-suckers and toads.
1812Southey Omniana II. 262 An insect like a *cow-tick.
1885Santa Fe Wkly. New Mexican 3 Dec. 4/1 St. Louis is the biggest *cow-town on earth just at present. 1888T. Roosevelt in Century Mag. Feb. 500 A true ‘cow-town’ is worth seeing. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Dec. 755/4 The mushroom cow-towns, such as Abilene, Newton and Dodge City. 1967Amer. Speech XLII. 115 Wichita's life as a ‘cow town’ was just beginning.
1839Penny Cycl. XV. 307/1 The Cow-Pen Bird, Cow Blackbird, *Cow Troopial, and Cow Bunting of the American colonists.
1883A. Crane in Leisure Hour 284/2 The engineer sounded his *cow-whistle.
1870Ramsay Scot. Life & Char. (ed. 18) p. xxxv, The poor *cow-woman.
1886T. Roosevelt in Century Mag. July 341/1 It is even more laughable to see some young fellow..attempt..to do *cow-work with his ordinary riding or hunting rig. 1907S. E. White Arizona Nights i. iii. 53 He kept his own mount of horses, took care of them, hunted, and took part in the cow work. 1929J. F. Dobie Vaquero 13 When we gathered cattle, we said that we were on a ‘cow hunt’, a ‘cow work’, a ‘work’, or a ‘cow drive’.
9. In many names of plants, in some of which cow- means ‘eaten by’ or ‘fit for cows’, or, like ‘horse-’ in similar use, distinguishes a coarse or wild species from one grown for human use: cows and calves, a popular name for Arum maculatum; cow-basil: see basil1 2; cow-bind, Bryonia dioica; cow-cabbage, a kind of cabbage grown for feeding cows; cow-chervil = cow-parsley; cow-clover, a name for Trifolium medium and T. pratense; cow-crackers, dial. name of Silene inflata; cow-cress, a name for Lepidium campestre and other plants; † cow-fat, an old name for Centranthus ruber; cow-herb, Saponaria Vaccaria (Treas. Bot. 1866); cow's lungwort, Verbascum Thapsus; cow-make, -mack, dial. name for Lychnis vespertina or perh. Silene inflata; cow-mumble, dial. name for Anthriscus sylvestris, Heracleum Sphondylium, and other plants; cow-pea, a name for Vigna sinensis, largely grown for fodder in the southern United States; cow-rattle (local) = cow-cracker; † cow-suckle, -sokulle, some plant not identified.
1853T. B. Groves in Pharm. Jrnl. XIII. 60 Arum maculatum..the vulgar names *cows and calves, and lords and ladies, are also known.
1578Lyte Dodoens 242 The Herboristes do call this herbe Vaccaria..We may call it Field Basill or *Cowe Basill.
1820Shelley Question iii, And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, Green *cow-bind.
1832Veg. Subst. Food 264 *Cow-cabbage..now cultivated in Jersey. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 147 The Cow Cabbage is much cultivated for milch cows in French Flanders, the Netherlands, and in Jersey and Guernsey.
1863–79Prior Plant Names, *Cow-cress, a coarse cress, Lepidium campestre.
1597Gerarde Herbal Supplt. to Engl. Names, *Cow fat is Cow Basill.
1777J. Lightfoot Flora Scotica I. 143 Great Woolly Mullein, Hag⁓taper, or *Cow's Lungwort.
1587L. Mascall Govt. Cattle (1627) 53 Some husbands (to make the cow take the bul the sooner) do giue her of the hearb called *cow-make, which groweth like a white gilliflower among corne.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, *Cow-mumble, a wild plant, more commonly called cow-parsnip.
1846Worcester, *Cow pea, a kind of pea, cultivated instead of clover. Farm. Ency. 1890Century Mag. July 459/1 ‘Cow peas’..a vegetable that seemed to be a cross between a pea and a bean.
14..MS. Laud Misc. 553 fol. 9 b, Cauliculis agrestis is an herbe that me cleputh glande or *couratle [marg. courattle] þis herbe hath leues liche to plantayne but hii biith nouȝt so moche..& he hath whit floures & he groweth in whete.
c1450Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 644/14 (Nomina herb.), Vaccinium, *cowsokulle. [‘Apparently another name for the cowslip’ (Wright).]
▸ cow pie n. (a) humorous (in the Desperate Dan comic strip; see quot. 1939) a very large beef pie, depicted as having horns protruding from the crust; (b) N. Amer. colloq. a piece of (dried) cattle dung; a cowpat.
1939Dandy 8 July 2 (cartoon caption) Dear Aunt Aggie,..I hope you'll have half a dozen of them famous *cow pies of yours ready for me... Put five cows in each pie instead of four. 1947C. B. Davis Jeremy Bell 9 Because there's a cow pie in the middle of the road don't mean there's a law you've got to step in it. 1975J. Rosenthal Evacuees in Bar Mitzvah Boy & Other Television Plays (1987) 88 We'll..come back to school—where Zuckerman will no doubt continue his education by looking at pictures of Desperate Dan eating cow-pie. 1994Harrowsmith (Camden East, Ont.) Feb. 36/2 While a cow pie in a pasture may not represent a threat to the environment, cattle are often allowed to pollute rivers and streams.
▸ cow tipping n. N. Amer. the activity of pushing over a sleeping cow, reputed to be a prank played in rural areas.
1983Re: Tipping vs Dunking in net.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 20 Dec. Have any of you mid-western netters ever heard of *cow tipping? 1988D. Waters Heathers (film script) 48 Oh shit, cowtipping is the fucking greatest... [Stage direction:] Kurt and Ram slam their knuckles and they lean against the cow, poised to shove. 1989Boston Globe (Nexis) 5 Sept. 33 Cow tipping has been talked about good-naturedly for years at the Storrs school but..as far as he knew it has never actually happened. 2005Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 6 Mar. xiii. 2/3 For $14.95—the cost of three six-packs of Pabst Blue Ribbon—'necks can find other 'necks, whether their favorite sports are ‘huntin'’, ‘four wheelin'’ or ‘cow tippin'’.
▪ II. cow, n.2 Sc.|kaʊ|
Also kow, cowe.
[Possibly ad. OF. coe, coue, cowe (mod.F. queue, dial. coue, cowe, cawe, etc.) tail: cf. F. queue de chanvre, etc.]
A twiggy branch, or bunch of twigs, of birch, broom, heather, etc.; a besom or birch of twigs.
a1548Thrie Priests Peblis, Ane cow of birks into his hand had he. 1598D. Ferguson Scot. Proverbs (1785) 21 It is a bare moor, that he gaes o'er, and gets na a cow. a1651Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 198 They fastened heather kowes to their steele bonnets, to be a signe that they were freinds. 1768Ross Helenore 77 (Jam.) Put on [the fire] a cow till I come o'er the gate. 1813Hogg Queen's Wake 68 Some horses ware of the brume-cow framit And some of the greine bay tree. 1836J. Struthers Dychmont 1. 136 Thy broom..E'en kowe by kowe was all up-wrung. 1885D. H. Edwards Mod. Scot. Poets Ser. viii. 46 He waved aloft a flaming cowe O'whin.
▪ III. cow, kow, n.3 Sc.|kaʊ|
[Origin uncertain: it is phonetically distinct from cow n.1, not being (kuː) in any Sc. dial.]
‘A hob-goblin; a scare-crow, bugbear’ (Jam.); cf. worricow.
c1500Roull's Cursing (Jam.), And Browny als, that can play cow Behind the claith with mony a mow. 1603Philotus cxxvi, Gude-man quhat misteris all thir mowis? As ȝe war cumbred with the cowis. 1722W. Hamilton Wallace viii. 190 (Jam.) And Campbell kind, the good knight of Lochow, To Suthron still a fearfull grievous cow. 1728Ramsay Anacreontic 15 And he appear'd to be nae kow, For a' his quiver, wings, and bow. 1832–53Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. i. 56 O what a brow has Betty! O sic a cowe is Betty!..Sae baleful is the power o'Betty.
▪ IV. † cow, n.4 Obs.
Short for cow-fish 4.
1693J. Wallace Orkney 14 Plenty of Shell fish, Oisters, &c., Crabs, Cows, or the Tillinoe.
▪ V. cow, n.5 local.|kaʊ|
[Phonetic variant of cowl n.1]
= cowl n.1 4.
1736Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Cow, the wooden thing put over the chimney of a hop-host or malt-house, which turns with the wind, and prevents smoking; it means cowl. 1837Dickens Pickw. vii, Who could continue to exist, where there are no cows but the cows on the chimney-pots? 1880W. Cornwall Gloss., Cow, a windlass, at top shaped like a cowl, for supplying mines with air.
▪ VI. cow, n.6
obs. form of chough.
▪ VII. cow, v.1|kaʊ|
[perh. a. ON. kúga ‘to cow, force, tyrannize over’, Norw. kue, Sw. kufva to subdue; but of late appearance in literature; app. often associated with cow n.1]
trans. ‘To depress with fear’ (J.); to dispirit, overawe, intimidate.
1605Shakes. Macb. v. viii. 18 Accursed be that tongue that tels mee so, For it hath cow'd my better part of man. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Hum. Lieutenant ii. iv, At that I was held a master in, he has cow'd me. 1641Milton Reform. ii. (1851) 53 Cowing our free spirits. 1664Butler Hud. ii. ii. 711 For when men by their Wives are Cow'd Their Horns of course are understood. 1780Burke Let. T. Burgh Wks. IX. 230 We feel faint and heartless..In plain words, we are cowed. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 565 Their spirit was cowed. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. 194 The nation, cowed and broken, gave way.
b. with into; formerly also † from, † out.
1648Hunting of Fox 47 The Sectaries..have so strangely cowed us out of late, as if God had taken away our hearts. 1685Crowne Sir Courtly Nice i. 2 They are so cow'd from marriage, they will go voluntiers into a battle, but must be prest to marriage. 1847Bushnell Chr. Nurt. ii. ii. (1861) 256 To be cowed into weak and cringing submission. 1891Spectator 13 June 822/2 To cow men into silence by threats of prosecution.
¶ intr. ? Confused with cower v.
1844Fraser's Mag. XXIX. 561 Instead of ending like a man, he now cowed before me quite spirit-broken. 1887S. Cheshire Gloss. (E.D.S.), Cow, to cower, shrink.
▪ VIII. cow, cowe, v.2 Sc.|kaʊ, kɔʊ|
[A later form of coll v.2: cf. knowe, pow, rowe, scrow, from knoll, poll, roll, scroll, etc.]
1. trans. To poll (the head); to clip, cut short, top, prune. Hence cowed (cowit), ppl. a.
1500–20Dunbar Tua mariit Wemen 275 Weil couth I..kemm his cowit noddill. 1536Bellenden Descr. Alb. xvi. (Jam.) Nane of thaym throw ythand cowing of their hedis grew beld. a1605Montgomerie Flyting 453 They made it like ane scraped swyne; And as they cowd they made it whryne. 1786Burns Ordination xiii, They'll..cowe her measure shorter By th' head, some day. 1828Minute Council Dumbarton in Hist. Dumbarton (1878) 42 To cut and cow her hair, gif need be.
2. To overtop; surpass, excel: esp. in phrases that cowes the gowan, that cowes a'.
1842Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 18 The..proverb..‘That cowes, or keels, the gowan’. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 556 note, There was surely some God's soul at work for us, or she [a vessel] would never have cowed yon [wave].
▪ IX. cow(e)2
obs. f. coe n.1
1670Pettus Fodinæ Reg. Table, Cowes are houses that the Miners build over their Groves. Ibid. 98 In their Houses, Cows, or any other place. |