bow-wowv.
/baʊˈwaʊ/ intransitive. To bark; also figurative to snarl, growl.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > sounds like animal or bird sounds > [verb (intransitive)] > growl or snarl
arr1484
yarr1611
harr?1748
bow-wow1832
grrra1963
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [verb (intransitive)] > bark
barkc885
galec1275
abayc1400
baffc1440
bawl1556
waff1570
baugh1576
prate1592
gladish1608
waffle1698
yamph1718
woof1804
allatrate1806
yaff1808
bow-wow1832
yaffle1847
kyoodle1935
1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster I. i. 5 To be snarled at, and bow-wowed at, in this manner, by those who find fault.
1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets viii To be bullied and bowowed out of your loyalty to the God of Light.
Derivatives
bow-ˈwower n.
bow-ˈwowing n.
ΚΠ
a1845 T. Hood Ode to Dr. Hahnemann vi Stop his bow-wow-ing.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
bow-wowint.n.
1. /ˈbaʊˈwaʊ/ An imitation of the barking of a dog.
/ˈbaʊˈwaʊ/ An imitation of the barking of a dog.ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [interjection] > bark
baw-waw1576
bow-wowa1616
yow1820
woof1839
youf1842
ruff1870
ouff1898
ouch1899
waff1922
1576 W. Lambarde Perambulation of Kent 206 A Dogges barking, that soundeth nothing els, but Baw, waw, waw.]
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 384 Harke, harke, bowgh wawgh: the watch-Dogges barke.
1651 J. Ogilby Fables of Æsop Paraphras'd (1665) 53 Bough wough, Whose that dare break Into my master's House?
1682 T. Otway Venice Preserv'd iii. 27 Now, bough waugh waugh, bough waugh—..Barks like a Dog.
1855 R. Browning Holy-Cross Day iv, in Men & Women II. 160 Bow, wow, wow—a bone for the dog!
2.
a. as n. The bark of a dog; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [noun] > sound made by > bark
bark1550
yaff1609
bow-wow1785
wough1824
wuff1824
yamph1832
yaffle1836
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Barking Irons, pistols, from their explosion resembling the bow-wow or barking of a dog. (Irish).
1826 J. Galt Last of Lairds xviii. 165 It's a sore thing for a man to be frightened into his first marriage by the bow wow o' a kirk session.
1849 W. Irving Crayon Misc. 211 With a deep-mouthed bow-wow.
1854 Gilfillan Beattie's Poems Introd. 16 The deep bow-wows of Johnson's talk.
b. attributive./ˈbaʊwaʊ/, as in bow-wow theory, applied in ridicule to the theory that human speech originated in the imitiation of animal sounds.
/ˈbaʊwaʊ/, as in bow-wow theory, applied in ridicule to the theory that human speech originated in the imitiation of animal sounds.ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > [noun] > origin of language > theories of
pooh-pooh theory1861
bow-wow theory1864
symphonesis1872
nativism1892
ta-ta theory1930
sing-song theory1939
1826 W. Scott Jrnl. 14 Mar. (1939) 135 The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going.
1864 F. M. Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. 2nd Ser. 87 The strong objection..to what I called the Bow-wow and the Pooh-pooh theories.
1883 Cent. Mag. 26 33 Advocates of the ‘Bow-wow’ theory of the origin of language may find convincing facts among the Zuñis.
c. quasi-adj. Dog-like, snarling, barking.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > sounds like animal or bird sounds > [adjective] > growl, snarl, or bark
gnarring1592
bow-wow1785
1785 Ld. Pembroke in J. Boswell Jrnl. Tour Hebrides 8 Dr. Johnson's sayings would not appear so extraordinary were it not for his bow-wow way.
1854 H. Miller My Schools & Schoolmasters (1858) 344 He could recite in the ‘big bow-wow style’.
d. The dogmatic tone in speaking or writing; the stating of opinions in an arrogant manner. Also attributive, as bow-wow style.
ΚΠ
1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 207 Without any bow-wow or assumption of superiority, he would prove to demonstration that our fancied arguments were good for nothing.
3. transferred. A dog. humorous or as nursery term. Also to go to the bow-wows: to go ‘to the dogs’. jocular colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [noun]
houndc897
dogOE
cur?c1225
cur-dog?c1225
barker1393
tykec1400
bawtiec1536
bufe1567
cute1622
bow-wow1785
buffer1819
growler1822
purp1861
canine1863
ki-yi1884
dawg1898
wonk1900
mong1903
pooch1908
poochie1934
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Bow-wow, the childish name for a dog.
a1800 W. Cowper Beau's Reply in Wks. (1835–7) 83 Nor some reproof yourself refuse From your aggrieved bow-wow.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby lxiv. 617 It is all up with its handsome friend, he has gone to the demnition bow-wows.
1893 W. K. Post Harvard Stories 114 Everything was going to the bow-wows.
1917 H. A. Vachell Fishpingle xiii. 263 He was going fast to the bowwows before I went to India.
1931 R. Campbell Georgiad i. 20 All the bow-wows, poodles, tykes and curs.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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v.1832
int.n.a1616