cow
1 Americannoun
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cows,
plural
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kine
plural (Archaic)
-
the mature female of a bovine animal, especially of the genus Bos.
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the female of certain other mammals, as elephants, seals, and whales.
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Informal. a domestic bovine of either sex and any age.
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Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
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a contemptible woman, especially one who is fat, stupid, lazy, etc.
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a woman who has a large number of children or is frequently pregnant.
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idioms
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have a cow, to become very angry or upset; throw a fit.
My mom will have a cow when she hears I'm moving.
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till / until the cows come home, for a long time; forever.
You can keep arguing till the cows come home, but I won't change my mind.
verb (used with object)
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cows,
present (3rd person singular)
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cowed,
past participle, past
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cowing
present participle
noun
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the mature female of any species of cattle, esp domesticated cattle
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the mature female of various other mammals, such as the elephant, whale, and seal
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(not in technical use) any domestic species of cattle
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informal a disagreeable woman
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slang something objectionable (esp in the phrase a fair cow )
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informal for a very long time; effectively for ever
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cowsimple
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cowssimple
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have cowedperfect
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has cowedperfect
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am cowingprogressive
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are cowingprogressive
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is cowingprogressive
-
have been cowingperfect progressive
-
has been cowingperfect progressive
Past
-
cowedsimple
-
had cowedperfect
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was cowingprogressive
-
were cowingprogressive
-
had been cowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cow1
First recorded before 900; Middle English cou, cu, Old English cuu, cū; cognate with German Kuh, Dutch koe, Old Norse kȳr, Sanskrit gáuḥ “ox, cow,” Latin bōs “ox, cow,” Greek boûs “ox, cow”; cf. bovine, gaur
Origin of cow2
First recorded in 1610–20; perhaps from Old Norse kūga “to oppress, cow”; compare Norwegian kue “to cow”
Explanation
If it lives on a farm, makes a mooing sound, and produces milk, it is probably a cow. Most people would immediately identify a cow, the large, cud-chewing female of what is known as "cattle." Cows are typically domesticated farm animals, though the females of wilder bovine relatives are also called cows. The verb form of cow, "to frighten or subdue," comes from the docile nature of most cows — they are fairly easy to intimidate, or easily cowed. The Old English root is cu, from the Indo-European gwous, which might have developed from the sound that cows make.
Vocabulary lists containing cow
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Yet as Eric Gropper puts it, you can't conjure a cow overnight.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
A 99-year-old care home resident in south-west Scotland has fulfilled his wish to show a cow at his local agricultural show one more time.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Actually, what can be more manly than killing a cow and spreading its fat on your face?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
“I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy…personally ran over the cow in his car.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
All she could do was awkwardly defend the cow.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Eric Gropper has about 350 breeding cows on around 8,000 acres of grassland in south-west South Dakota.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The remains came from both native and introduced animals, including cows, kangaroos, emus, sheep, pigs, dingoes, rabbits, possums, quolls and swamp rats.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
He showed one of the Ayrshire cows - just as he had done many times across his pioneering career.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
It is a place out of time, reached by a rocky road between arid hills and the sea where you have to dodge stray cows, goats and wild horses.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
The other cows called out to their friend.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
He gazed with placid satisfaction out of his car window at the Argentine's horizon-filling wheat ranches and pampas, at her myriad herds of kine and mutton.
From Time Magazine Archive
All winter the monkey lived in the Lewis barn, playing simian pranks on Farmer Lewis' kine.
From Time Magazine Archive
Many a notable came to see the thousands of sleek porkers, fuzzy sheep, velvety kine, clucking fowl.
From Time Magazine Archive
After the ravages of more than three years of war, it will take more than candy, bubble gum and "al kine camera bag" to supply a decent living standard for South Korea's 22 million people.
From Time Magazine Archive
“He can hear fish. So in our hanabata days, he helped ’em proliferate and he always had the best catch, but he not think beyond those kine fish.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
But O’Donnell has refused to be cowed by the president’s bullying for nearly 20 years.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
But feminists should not be cowed — and not just because this case, a version of which was already litigated in Carroll’s favor, is likely to crumble in court.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
Her other brother, Albert, feels increasingly overshadowed by Viktor and cowed by the demands of the family’s failing farm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
But he insisted that he would not be cowed by antisemitism.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
Though I respected Reverend Harris, I admired the fact that Mr. Mahlasela would not be cowed by him.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
“To have the same effect of cowing the Taiwan population, Beijing is forced to be more threatening,” said Ja Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2022
Hurston defiantly writes without cowing to such worries.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2020
Even as lawmakers, business groups and foreign leaders expressed alarm, senior White House officials showed no sign of backing down or cowing under the blowback.
From Washington Post ● May 31, 2019
Some faculty members have criticized the statement as cowing to the legislature and not sticking up for faculty.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2015
Rather than cowing the students into submission, the arrests stiffened their resolve, and they returned to the streets with renewed conviction.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
