cow
1 Americannoun
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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)
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
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have been cowingperfect progressive
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has been cowingperfect progressive
Past
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cowedsimple
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had cowedperfect
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was cowingprogressive
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were cowingprogressive
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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:
His cash cow: Mario Moreno, better known as Cantinflas, the improvisational comic genius sometimes called the “Mexican Charlie Chaplin.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
He confirmed that the item which could not find a buyer had been the cow from the Branxton Menagerie.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
“We are at incredibly high beef prices because the cow herd is at its lowest point in 80 years,” says Justin Benavidez, the Department of Agriculture’s chief economist.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
About 75% of America’s beef cow herd is now in drought.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
“That’s all very well on the farm. It’s different when the cow wants you to hold her hand, sing songs, and tell stories the whole blessed time! I’m running out of material.”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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
“I chase grandkids and chase cows and ride motorcycles. When I retired I kind of went into my hole in Austin and I like living in my hole.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
So as part of National Lottery grant funding the team has secured solar-panelled collars for the cows to create a "no-fence grazing" perimeter to stop the cattle from leaving the land.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
We wouldn’t be able to feed people cows.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Some of the fences were missing, and the Herding Machine was broken, but the cows promised not to wander off, and they began grazing on the windblown grass.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
In that time, the unhappy custodians of the Tate have willy-nilly acquired tons and acres of lowing kine, rearing horses, languorous ladies, idyllic landscapes and storm-beset ships-of-the-line.
From Time Magazine Archive
Driving through Virginia to his Rapidan camp for the weekend, President Hoover saw for himself pastures toasted brown, corn drooping dead on the stalk, lean kine herded miles to water.
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
The crowd expects his office to be bucolic and full of ewes and kine.
From Time Magazine Archive
Pippin could see all the Pelennor laid out before him, dotted into the distance with farmsteads and little walls, barns and byres, but nowhere could he see any kine or other beasts.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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
Van Riper was supposed to be cowed and overwhelmed in the face of a larger foe.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
“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
According to the The Committee to Protect Journalists, there are few effective barriers to prevent autocratic governments from using sophisticated surveillance technology to attempt cowing or silencing a free press.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2021
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.
