† scowskown.1
Scottish. Obsolete.
plural. Strips of wood for wattle-work, barrel-staves, fixing thatch, etc.
ΚΠ
1524–5 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1869) I. 221 Thai had maid expenssis vpoun the standand graith of the commoun mylnis in stra, scowis, rauchteris, lyme [etc.].
1538 Aberdeen Reg. XVI. (Jam.) Girchtstingis & skowis.
1543 Aberdeen Reg. XVIII. (Jam.) Tymmer skowis Suadene buirdis, guirdstingis and boddummis.
1614 Shipping Lists of Dundee in Wedderburne Compt Buik (S.H.S.) 246 The said bark laitlie arryved frome Melstrand contenand..auch thowsand barrellis of Skowie [? read Skowis] & ane hundreth pyp stalffis.
1705 Sc. Acts Anne (1824) XI. 293/2 Knaple, skows, hoops, dutch nets..shall be free of custome.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
scown.2
/skaʊ/, U.S. /skaʊ/, Scottish English /skʌʊ/, Irish English /skaʊ/ U.S., Scotland, Ireland.
1.
a. A large flat-bottomed lighter or punt.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > flat-bottomed boat > [noun] > types of
sedge-boat1336
shout1395
scout1419
pink1471
punt-boatc1500
palander1524
pram1531
punt1556
bark1598
sword-pink1614
pont1631
schuit1666
pontoon1681
bateau1711
battoe1711
flight1769
scow1780
keel-boat1786
ferry flat1805
ark1809
panga1811
mackinaw boat1812
mudboat1824
pinkie1840
mackinaw1842
sharpie1860
sculling float1874
pass-boat1875
sled1884
scow sloop1885
sharp1891
johnboat1894
ballahoo1902
pram1929
goelette1948
1780 T. Jefferson Corr. in Wks. (1859) I. 254 I have empowered Colonel Carrington to have twelve boats, scows or batteaux, built.
1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms Scow... On Lake Ontario they are sometimes rigged like a schooner or sloop, with a lee-board or sliding keel, when they make tolerably fast sailers.
1862 W. H. Russell in Times 4 Apr. By 2 o'clock..about 8,500 men were on their way to..Fortress Monroe. They were carried in 12 large river steamers, some of which tugged scows for horses and artillery.
1877 Law Rep.: Appeal Cases 2 842 The navigation [on the river Leven] appears to be carried on in what are called scows, large barges, I suppose we should call them.
1878 B. Harte Hoodlum Band 102 A long, low, sloop-rigged scow,..worked her way out of the mill-dam towards the Sound.
1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Words Antrim & Down Skeow, a large flat barge, used to receive the mud raised by a dredging machine.
1884 G. Allen Strange Stories 154 Captain Pierpoint arranged to take down a scow or flat-bottomed boat, laden with grain, from Milwaukee for the Erie Canal.
1909 Times 27 Jan. 6/5 For the water he would use skows (flat-bottomed boats) which would also be capable of progressing upon the ice.
b. U.S. A small flat-bottomed racing yacht.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > pleasure vessel > [noun] > yacht > types of yacht
steam-yacht1812
skimmer1844
schooner-yacht1876
cruiser1879
keel1883
skimming-dish1884
cutter-yacht1885
bulb-keel1893
keel-boat1893
forty1894
half-rater1894
forty-tonner1895
one-designer1897
raceabout1897
forty-footer1902
sonder1907
star1911
tonnage-cheater1912
scow1929
tabloid1930
Yngling1969
maxi yacht1974
1929 B. Heckstall-Smith ‘Britannia’ & her Contemporaries viii. 82 The result of these changes was that ten years after the Britannia was built the type of racing yacht had developed into a scow with a fin keel.
1932 Sun (Baltimore) 13 Aug. 18/7 Pitted against the High Tide was the Inland Laker type sailing scow Elusive.
1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 30/1 The Australian tub, Gretel, hit the American scow, Intrepid.
1976 P. Kemp Oxf. Compan. Ships & Sea 762/2 Scow,..used in the U.S.A. today to describe a small flat-bottomed racing yacht fitted with bilge boards or retractable bilge keels.
c. transferred. Applied to one of several containers or vehicles used for transporting loads (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > other equipment of vessel > [noun] > shallow tray for hoisting packages
scow1942
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > motor lorry, truck, or van > [noun] > truck or lorry > low-loader
low-loader1925
scow1942
1942 Amer. Speech 17 104/2 Scow, truck with extraordinary capacity for a big load.
1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 180 Scow,..A shallow tray for hoisting small packages of cargo.
1971 M. Tak Truck Talk 136 Scow,..a low-sided trailer used for hauling pipe, steel, stone, gravel, scrap and similar cargo.
1973 Amer. Speech 1969 44 208 Scow, low-sided truck or rig used for hauling pipe or steel.
1977 New Yorker 18 July 23/2 There is even, in a projected television series, a pilot of a spaceship (an interplanetary garbage scow) who is called Adam Quark.
2. Applied locally to a coracle.
ΚΠ
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Skow, a small boat made of willows, &c. covered with skins, Moray.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a.
scow-crew n.
ΚΠ
1775 J. Adams in J. Adams & A. Adams Familiar Lett. (1876) 60 Father Smith prayed for our scow crew, I doubt not.
b.
scow-shaped adj.
ΚΠ
1897 Outing 29 547/1 A clumsy, scow-shaped cattle-boat.
C2.
scow schooner n. (see quot. 1885).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel propelled by sail > [noun] > other sailing vessels
balinger1391
caliphe1393
buss1471
mahonnet1524
flute1567
mahone1572
shallopa1578
prahu1582
caïque1666
bullenger1670
hogboat1784
mistico1792
water-manikin1796
mistic1828
sailing-packet1842
sharpie1860
tjalk1861
botter1880
scow schooner1885
scow sloop1885
ghoster1886
sailing-trawler1891
sharp1891
skiff1891
palari1936
gulet1986
1885 17th Ann. List. Merchant Vessels U.S. p. xxx Scows are built with flat bottoms and square bilges, but some of them have the ordinary schooner bow. They are fitted with one, two, and three masts, and are called scow-sloop or scow schooner, according to the rig they carry.
1913 J. London Valley of Moon 269 At the foot of Castro street..the scow schooners, laden with sand and gravel, lay hauled to the shore in a long row.
1951 H. I. Chapelle Amer. Small Sailing Craft 334 A few scow schooners were built with round bilges, but they were comparatively rare.
scow sloop n. U.S. (see quot. 1885 for scow schooner n.).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel propelled by sail > [noun] > other sailing vessels
balinger1391
caliphe1393
buss1471
mahonnet1524
flute1567
mahone1572
shallopa1578
prahu1582
caïque1666
bullenger1670
hogboat1784
mistico1792
water-manikin1796
mistic1828
sailing-packet1842
sharpie1860
tjalk1861
botter1880
scow schooner1885
scow sloop1885
ghoster1886
sailing-trawler1891
sharp1891
skiff1891
palari1936
gulet1986
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > flat-bottomed boat > [noun] > types of
sedge-boat1336
shout1395
scout1419
pink1471
punt-boatc1500
palander1524
pram1531
punt1556
bark1598
sword-pink1614
pont1631
schuit1666
pontoon1681
bateau1711
battoe1711
flight1769
scow1780
keel-boat1786
ferry flat1805
ark1809
panga1811
mackinaw boat1812
mudboat1824
pinkie1840
mackinaw1842
sharpie1860
sculling float1874
pass-boat1875
sled1884
scow sloop1885
sharp1891
johnboat1894
ballahoo1902
pram1929
goelette1948
1885Scow sloop [see scow schooner n.].
1941 H. I. Chapelle Boatbuilding 28 The New Jersey oyster garvey, the Maine scow sloop, and the San Francisco scow schooner represent examples of the practical use of such hull forms.
1953 Sunday Sun (Baltimore) 18 Oct. (Mag.) 24/4 An oddity in the sloop rig was the scow sloop, once common at the head of the Chesapeake near Havre de Grace... The last in service..was abandoned about 1940.
Draft additions 1993
Used as a term of disparagement for an old, usually clumsy boat. Also transferred. colloquial (originally and chiefly North American).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel with reference to qualities or attributes > [noun] > with reference to behaviour at sea > slow and clumsy
tuba1618
scow1891
1891 ‘M. Twain’ Lett. (1917) II. xxxi. 557 We were allowed to go through the wrong arch, which brought us into a tourbillon below which tried to make this old scow stand on its head.
1922 E. O'Neill Anna Christie (1923) ii. 50 What is a fine handsome woman the like of you doing on this scow?
1946 R. E. Higginbotham Wine for my Brothers vi. 149 The only pleasant thought in him the idea of getting off this scow when she reached port.
1958 E. A. McCourt Revolt in West ix. 76 The Police slipped out of the Fort..and boarded an old scow on the Saskatchewan River.
1982 I. Asimov Foundation's Edge (1983) vi. 84 I've been looking for that hyper-relay as though I were on my old scow of a training ship, studying every part of the ship by eye.
1985 Los Angeles Times 4 Sept. iii. 3/3 The old scow was quickly replaced by a new, sleeker craft and a highly competent crew.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
scown.3
/skaʊ/, U.S. /skaʊ/ 1. Orkney and Shetland. ‘A big gaunt woman’ (G. Lamb, Orkney Wordbk. (1988) s.v.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > large woman
armful1608
scow1866
1866 T. Edmondston Etymol. Gloss. Shetland & Orkney Dial. 99 ‘A great scow of a woman’—a tall, thin, bony woman.
1927 Peace's Orkney Almanac 135 Me hert's sair ower peerie Johnnie sweein' trou siccan a twa-faced scow.
2. slang (chiefly U.S.). A disparaging term for a woman.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun]
wifeeOE
womaneOE
womanOE
queanOE
brideOE
viragoc1000
to wifeOE
burdc1225
ladyc1225
carlinec1375
stotc1386
marec1387
pigsneyc1390
fellowa1393
piecec1400
femalea1425
goddessa1450
fairc1450
womankindc1450
fellowessa1500
femininea1513
tega1529
sister?1532
minikinc1540
wyec1540
placket1547
pig's eye1553
hen?1555
ware1558
pussy?a1560
jade1560
feme1566
gentlewoman1567
mort1567
pinnacea1568
jug1569
rowen1575
tarleather1575
mumps1576
skirt1578
piga1586
rib?1590
puppy1592
smock1592
maness1594
sloy1596
Madonna1602
moll1604
periwinkle1604
Partlet1607
rib of man1609
womanship?1609
modicum1611
Gypsy1612
petticoata1616
runniona1616
birda1627
lucky1629
she-man1640
her1646
lost rib1647
uptails1671
cow1696
tittup1696
cummer17..
wife1702
she-woman1703
person1704
molly1706
fusby1707
goody1708
riding hood1718
birdie1720
faggot1722
piece of goods1727
woman body1771
she-male1776
biddy1785
bitch1785
covess1789
gin1790
pintail1792
buer1807
femme1814
bibi1816
Judy1819
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
wifie1823
craft1829
shickster?1834
heifer1835
mot1837
tit1837
Sitt1838
strap1842
hay-bag1851
bint1855
popsy1855
tart1864
woman's woman1868
to deliver the goods1870
chapess1871
Dona1874
girl1878
ladykind1878
mivvy1881
dudess1883
dudette1883
dudine1883
tid1888
totty1890
tootsy1895
floozy1899
dame1902
jane1906
Tom1906
frail1908
bit of stuff1909
quim1909
babe1911
broad1914
muff1914
manhole1916
number1919
rossie1922
bit1923
man's woman1928
scupper1935
split1935
rye mort1936
totsy1938
leg1939
skinny1941
Richard1950
potato1957
scow1960
wimmin1975
womyn1975
womxn1991
1960 H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 449/2 Scow,..a large, ugly, and/or unpleasant woman.
1970 R. Lowell Notebk. 143 Often the Dutch were sacks, their women a sack, Obstinate, undefeated hull of the old scow.
1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 265 More familiar terms in current usage refer to women as receptacles for refuse..as..scow.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1993; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
scowv.1
/skaʊ/, U.S. /skaʊ/ 1. intransitive. To cross over a river by means of a scow.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > [verb (intransitive)] > in specific type of craft
to barge it1599
boat?1630
canoe1732
shallop1737
raft1741
scow1749
steam1832
yacht1836
screw1840
steamer1866
gondole1874
kayak1875
sail1898
tramp1899
motor-boat1903
barge1909
hover1962
power1964
motor1968
jet-ski1978
1749 W. Douglass Summary I. 460 The ferry is about 80 rod, and..runs two or three knots, scowed over in about 9 minutes.
1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Scow, to transport in a scow.
2. transitive. (See quot. 1828 at sense 1.)
ΚΠ
1751 J. MacSparran Let. Bk. 1 Oct. (1899) 58 He and a Boy..were Scowing wood.
1929 W. Heyliger Builder of Dam 39 From this point I will scow the supplies over to the job.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
scowv.2
/skaʊ/, U.S. /skaʊ/ Nautical.
transitive in to scow an anchor: on a foul bottom, to bend the cable to the crown and stop it within the ring, so that in weighing the seizing may be broken and the anchor tripped.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > berthing, mooring, or anchoring > berth, moor, or anchor (a ship) [verb (transitive)] > anchor (a ship) > prepare anchor in specific ways
cockbill1726
stock1769
to scow an anchor1878
1878 D. Kemp Man. Yacht & Boat Sailing 366 Scowing an Anchor.
Derivatives
scowed adj.
ΚΠ
1879 W. Rossiter Illustr. Dict. Sci. Terms Scowed anchor.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
scowv.3
/skaʊ/, U.S. /skaʊ/ northern dialect.
intransitive. To loiter, idle; to shirk work, play truant.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > sloth or laziness > be slothful or lazy [verb (intransitive)] > idle or loaf
luskc1330
lubber1530
to play the truant, -s1560
lazea1592
lazy1612
meecha1625
lounge1671
saunter1672
sloungea1682
slive1707
soss1711
lolpoop1722
muzz1758
shack1787
hulkc1793
creolize1802
maroon1808
shackle1809
sidle1828
slinge1834
sossle1837
loaf1838
mike1838
to sit around1844
hawm1847
wanton1847
sozzle1848
mooch1851
slosh1854
bum1857
flane1876
slummock1877
dead-beat1881
to lop about1881
scow1901
scowbank1901
stall1916
doss1937
plotz1941
lig1960
loon1969
the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from action [verb (intransitive)] > avoid > avoid duty, work, or exertion
feignc1300
lurk1551
slug1642
skulk1781
malinger1820
mike1838
shirk1853
slinker1880
scrimshank1882
pike1889
scow1901
spruce1916
to swing the lead1917
bludge1919
to dodge the column1919
skive1919
to screw off1943
to do a never1946
to fuck off1946
to dick off1948
1901 F. E. Taylor Folk-speech S. Lancs. (at cited word) Scow, to idle about.
1905 in Eng. Dial. Dict. V. 265/2 Now then, you're always scowing.
Derivatives
ˈscowing n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > [noun] > avoiding an action or condition > avoiding duty, work, or exertion
blanching1642
skulking1805
soldiering1840
malingery1841
malingering1861
old soldierism1866
old soldiering1867
scrimshanking1881
shirking1899
gold-bricking1918
lead-swinging1930
skive1958
skiving1958
scowing1959
1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren xvii. 372 Sagging..is definitely the prevailing term [for playing truant] amongst delinquents in all parts of Liverpool. A student..adds ‘scowing’ as a Liverpudlian expression.
1966 F. Shaw et al. Lern Yerself Scouse 58 I wuz scowing, I was having an unofficial spell of leisure time.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1982; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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