mow1
/məʊ
/verb (past participle mowed or mown) [with object]
1Cut down (grass) with a machine: Roger mowed the lawn (as adjective mown) the delicious smell of newly mown grass...
- When they did sit down to eat, they were surrounded by the smell of newly mown grass.
- It was a hot day and the windows were open and the smell of newly mown grass wafted in from the playing fields.
- As I walked up the freshly mowed lawn, I saw the usual sight.
1.1chiefly historical Cut down (grass or a cereal crop) with a scythe: (as adjective mown) their job was to rake the mown corn ready for carting...
- In the mosque courtyard, workers mowed grass, raked out brush and freshened up old flower beds with new green plants.
- The illustrations in such medieval prayer books represented the work of the season: here a peasant mows a meadow.
- We know of several people who mow lawns with a scythe.
Phrasal verbs
mow someone down
Origin
Old English māwan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch maaien, German mähen 'mow', also to mead2.
Rhymes
mow2
/məʊ/noun North American or dialect
1A stack of hay, corn, or other crop: a hay mow...
- The main theme of his article was about how hay knives were used to cut sections from the stack or mow.
- Most often it was set up in a barn beside the mow of loose hay.
- And before night they'd finished threshing the whole mow of wheat.
1.1A place in a barn where a stack of hay, corn, etc. is put.By July 15th or 20th, the hay was all stowed away in the barn mows....
- Seventy and more years ago, loose hay for feed and straw for bedding were lifted into the mows by a system of knives and pulleys.
- A small, freshly planked room below the straw mow was filled with oats, enough to last until next August.
Origin
Old English mūga; of unknown ultimate origin; compare with Swedish and Norwegian muga 'heap'.