stow
English
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /stoʊ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /stəʊ/
- Rhymes: -əʊ
- Homophone: store (in some accents)
Audio (UK) (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle English stowe, from Old English stōw (“place, location”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōwu, from Proto-Germanic *stōwō (“a place, stowage”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, place, put”). Cognate with Old Frisian stō (“place”), Icelandic stó (“fireplace”), Dutch stouw (“place”). See also -stow.
Noun
stow (plural stows)
- (rare) A place, stead.
Quotations
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:stow.
Etymology 2
From Middle English stowen, stawen, stewen, from Old English stōwian (“to hold back, restrain”), from Proto-Germanic *stōwōną, *stōwijaną (“to stow, dam up”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, place”). Cognate with Dutch stuwen, stouwen (“to stow”), Low German stauen (“to blin, halt, hinder”), German stauen (“to halt, hem in, stow, pack”).
Verb
stow (third-person singular simple present stows, present participle stowing, simple past and past participle stowed) (transitive)
- To put something away in a compact and tidy manner, in its proper place, or in a suitable place.
- To store or pack something in a space-saving manner and over a long time.
- 1922, James A. Cooper, Sheila of Big Wreck Cove:
- Yet everybody knows that a cargo properly stowed in a seaworthy craft reaches market in much the better condition than by rail, though perhaps it is some hours longer on the way.
- 1922, James A. Cooper, Sheila of Big Wreck Cove:
- To arrange, pack, or fill something tightly or closely.
- To dispose of, lodge, or hide somebody somewhere.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii], page 3:
- Ar. […] The Marriners all vnder hatches ſtowed, / Who, with a Charme ioynd to their ſuffred labour / I haue left aſleep : […]
-
- (obsolete, slang, transitive) To cease; to stop doing something.
- Bet the Coaley's Daughter (traditional song)
- But when I strove my flame to tell, / Says she, 'Come, stow that patter, / If you're a cove wot likes a gal, / Vy don't you stand some gatter?' / In course I instantly complied— / Two brimming quarts of porter, / With sev'ral goes of gin beside, / Drain'd Bet the Coaley's daughter.
- Bet the Coaley's Daughter (traditional song)
Derived terms
- bestow
- misstowed
- stowable
- stowage
- stow away
- stower
- stowing
- unstow
Translations
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Interjection
stow
- (obsolete) A cry used by falconers to call their birds back down to hand.
- c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, OCLC 8728872, lines 66, 69–74, page 63:
- His seconde hawke wexyd gery […]
on the rode loft
She perkyd her to rest.
The fauconer then was prest,
Came runnynge with a dow,
And cryed, ‘Stow, stow, stow!’
But she wold not bow.
-
Anagrams
- OTWs, SWOT, TOWs, Tows, ow'st, swot, tows, twos, wost, wots
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *stōwu, from Proto-Germanic *stōwō (“a place, location, position”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, place, put”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /stoːw/
Noun
stōw f
- a place
- Ne sċoldest þū gān tō swā frēcenre stōwe.
- You shouldn't have gone to such a dangerous place.
- a place on the body
- a place that is built; house, collection of houses, habitation, dwelling
- a place, position, or spot in a series
- a room, stead
- a place or passage in a book
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | stōw | stōwa, stōwe |
| accusative | stōwe | stōwa, stōwe |
| genitive | stōwe | stōwa |
| dative | stōwe | stōwum |
Descendants
- Middle English: stowe, stow
- Scots: stow
- English: stow
Scots
Verb
stow
- (transitive) To cut off; to crop.