cow

noun

/kaʊ/

Idioms

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a large animal kept on farms to produce milk or beef
- to milk a cow
- cow’s milk
- a herd of dairy cows (= cows kept for their milk)
compare bull, calf, heifer see also cattleTopics Animalsa1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- beef
- dairy
- milch
- …
… of cows
- herd
verb + cow
- breed
- milk
- kill
- …
cow + verb
- low
- moo
- chew the cud
- …
cow + noun
- byre
- shed
- pasture
- …
phrases
- a breed of cow
See full entry
the female of the elephant, whale and some other large animals see also sea cow compare bull
(slang, disapproving) an offensive word for a woman
- You stupid cow!
- That interfering old cow has never liked me.
(Australian English, New Zealand English) an unpleasant person, thing or situation

see also cash cow, milch cow, sacred cow

Word Originnoun Old English cū, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koe and German Kuh, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin bos and Greek bous.

Idioms

have a cow

(North American English, informal) to become very angry or anxious about something
- Don't have a cow—it's no big deal.

till the cows come home

(informal) for a very long time; forever
- You can talk till the cows come home—you’ll never make me change my mind.

cow

verb

/kaʊ/

[usually passive]

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they cow	/kaʊ/ /kaʊ/
he / she / it cows	/kaʊz/ /kaʊz/
past simple cowed	/kaʊd/ /kaʊd/
past participle cowed	/kaʊd/ /kaʊd/
-ing form cowing	/ˈkaʊɪŋ/ /ˈkaʊɪŋ/

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to frighten somebody in order to make them obey you synonym intimidate
- be cowed (by somebody/something) She was easily cowed by people in authority.
- Two judges have refused to be cowed by pressure from the government.
- be cowed into (doing) something They were wrong if they thought she could be cowed into submission by threats.
Word Originverb late 16th cent.: probably from Old Norse kúga ‘oppress’.