mow

[ moh ]

/ moʊ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mow ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), mowed, mowed or mown, mow·ing.

to cut down (grass, grain, etc.) with a scythe or a machine.

to cut grass, grain, etc., from: to mow the lawn.

verb (used without object), mowed, mowed or mown, mow·ing.

to cut down grass, grain, etc.

Verb Phrases

mow down,

to destroy or kill indiscriminately or in great numbers, as troops in battle.
to defeat, overwhelm, or overcome: The team mowed down its first four opponents.
to knock down.

RELATED WORDS

trim, shear, crop, clip, scythe, sickle

Nearby words

Origin of mow

before 900; Middle English mowen, Old English māwan; cognate with German mähen

mow

[ mou ]

/ maʊ /

noun

the place in a barn where hay, sheaves of grain, etc., are stored.

a heap or pile of hay or of sheaves of grain in a barn.

verb (used with object)

Chiefly Northern and North Midland U.S. to store (hay) in a barn.

Origin of mow

before 900; Middle English mow(e), Old English mūwa, mūha, mūga; cognate with Old Norse mūgi swath

mow

or mowe

[ mou, moh ]

/ maʊ, moʊ /

Archaic.

noun

a wry or derisive grimace.

verb (used without object)

to make mows, mouths, or grimaces.

Origin of mow

1275–1325; Middle English mowe < Middle French moue lip, pout, Old French moe < Frankish; akin to Middle Dutch mouwe protruded lip

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for mow

It entailed deploying the Israeli army into Palestinian refugee camps to “mow the grass.”
Old Problems and New Realities|Ahmed Moor|November 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Rats were breeding in the trash and neighbors pitched in to mow her lawn.
10 Congressmen Who Should Be Fired|John Avlon|July 29, 2010|DAILY BEAST
We crop it and mow it year after year; and yet, if the season favors, it is sure to come again.
A Year in the Fields|John Burroughs
A rake for piling hay that would be carried from the field or put into a mow.
Agricultural Implements and Machines in the Collection of the National Museum of History and Technology|John T. Schlebecker

As the invaders prepared to mow them down a sudden hush fell on the men and the invaders parted.
The Space Rover|Edwin K. Sloat
Leaves in grass and mow potatoes, have a skip, hurry you up flutter.
Tender Buttons|Gertrude Stein
The machine could only work on the cleared land, and where the stumps were thick he set the boys to mow with the scythe.
The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound|Harold Bindloss

British Dictionary definitions for mow

mow

/ (məʊ) /

verb mows, mowing, mowed, mowed or mown

to cut down (grass, crops, etc) with a hand implement or machine

(tr) to cut the growing vegetation of (a field, lawn, etc)

Derived Formsmower, noun

Word Origin for mow

Old English māwan; related to Old High German māen, Middle Dutch maeyen to mow, Latin metere to reap, Welsh medi

noun

the part of a barn where hay, straw, etc, is stored

the hay, straw, etc, stored

Word Origin for mow

Old English mūwa; compare Old Norse mūgr heap, Greek mukōn

noun, verb

an archaic word for grimace

Word Origin for mow

C14: from Old French moe a pout, or Middle Dutch mouwe

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mow

mow

Old English mawan "to mow" (class VII strong verb; past tense meow, past participle mawen), from Proto-Germanic *mæanan (cf. Middle Low German maeyen, Dutch maaien, Old High German maen, German mähen "to mow," Old English mæd "meadow"), from PIE root *me- "to mow, to cut down grass or grain with a sickle or scythe" (cf. poetic Greek amao, Latin metere "to reap, mow, crop," Italian mietere, Old Irish meithleorai "reapers," Welsh medi). Related: Mowed; mown; mowing.

mow

"stack of hay," Old English muga, muwa "a heap, swath of corn, crowd of people," earlier muha, from Proto-Germanic *mugon (cf. Old Norse mugr "a heap," mostr "crowd"), of uncertain origin.