sow

From Middle English sowe, from Old English sugu, from Proto-Germanic *sugō, from Proto-Indo-European *suh₂kéh₂, from *suH- (“pig”). See also West Frisian sûch, Dutch zeug, Low German Söög, German Sau, Swedish sugga, Norwegian sugge; also Welsh hwch (“pig”), Sanskrit सूकर (sūkará, “swine, boar”); also German Sau, Latin sūs, Tocharian B suwo, Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs), Albanian thi, Avestan 𐬵𐬏 (hū, “boar”). See also swine. Doublet of soor.

• (dial.): zew, soo

• IPA^(key): /saʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ
• Homophone: sough

A sow with her young.

sow (plural sows or swine)

1. A female pig.
2. A female bear, she-bear.
   • 1995, Dana Stabenow, Play with Fire, →ISBN, page 11:

     Lucky he wasn't a sow. They've usually just dropped a cub this time of year. A sow would have been cranky as hell.

3. A female guinea pig.
4. A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
5. A mass of metal solidified in a mold.
   • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 160:

     In England, it was generally termed a 'sow', if the weight was above 10 cwts., if below, it was termed a 'pig' from which the present term 'pig iron' is derived.

6. (derogatory, slang) A contemptible, often fat woman.
7. A sowbug.
8. (military) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.

The plural form swine is now obsolete in this sense.

• (mass of metal solidified in a mold): ingot
• (contemptible woman): bitch, cow

• boar
• hog
• pig

From Middle English sowen, from Old English sāwan, from Proto-West Germanic *sāan, from Proto-Germanic *sēaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-. Compare Dutch zaaien, German säen, Danish så, Norwegian Bokmål så.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /səʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /soʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Homophones: seau, sew, so, soe, soh

sow (third-person singular simple present sows, present participle sowing, simple past sowed, past participle sown or sowed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).

   When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.

2. (figurative) To spread abroad; to propagate.

   As you sow, so shall you reap.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 4:8:

     Euen as I haue seene, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickednsse, reape the same.

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 6:

     And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.

   • 1963 June, G. Freeman Allen, “The success of diesel-hydraulics on the German Federal Railway”, in Modern Railways, page 386:

     Not surprisingly, it has sown doubt among other operators of diesel-hydraulics; […] .

   • 2024 January 25, Marin Scotten, “‘Laying claim to nature’s work’: plant patents sow fear among small growers”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     ‘Laying claim to nature’s work’: plant patents sow fear among small growers [title]

3. (figurative) To scatter over; to besprinkle.
   • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC:

     The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, […] and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     [He] sowd with Starrs the heav'n.

4. Obsolete spelling of sew

• OSW, OWS, W.O.s, WOs, wos

sow

1. Alternative form of sowe

sow

1. Alternative form of sowen (“to torment”)