sow1
- to scatter (seed) over land, earth, etc., for growth; plant.
- to plant seed for: to sow a crop.
- to scatter seed over (land, earth, etc.) for the purpose of growth.
- to implant, introduce, or promulgate; seek to propagate or extend; disseminate: to sow distrust or dissension.
- to strew or sprinkle with anything.
- to sow seed, as for the production of a crop.
Origin of sow1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for sowed
Contemporary Examples
And those lawyers produced a lot of documents and sowed a lot of doubt.
So, yes, be wary of Greek dominos falling, but remember the domino theory was wrong during the Cold War yet it sowed fear.
When you send a tweet, Google a keyword, or stream a Netflix movie, you are harvesting what Shannon sowed.
They pursued their dreams, sowed their oats, established their careers, then began to think about settling down—not settling.
Historical Examples
He knew nothing about it, and went and sowed his field with it.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
He returned disappointed, with a tale that sowed dismay in Fenzileh and Marzak.
The Sea-HawkRaphael Sabatini
Therefore I went out and sowed the corn in my enemy's field, that God might exist.
The Great HungerJohan Bojer
They sowed neither wheat nor barley, and yet they had lots and lots to eat.
Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk TalesAnonymous
I have a whole bedful, and all from a penny packet of seed that I sowed myself.
The Carroll GirlsMabel Quiller-Couch
sow1
- to scatter or place (seed, a crop, etc) in or on (a piece of ground, field, etc) so that it may growto sow wheat; to sow a strip of land
- (tr) to implant or introduceto sow a doubt in someone's mind
Word Origin
sow2
- a female adult pig
- the female of certain other animals, such as the mink
- metallurgy
- the channels for leading molten metal to the moulds in casting pig iron
- iron that has solidified in these channels
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for sowed
sow
v.
Old English sawan "to scatter seed upon the ground or plant it in the earth, disseminate" (class VII strong verb; past tense seow, past participle sawen), from Proto-Germanic *sean (cf. Old Norse sa, Old Saxon saian, Middle Dutch sayen, Dutch zaaien, Old High German sawen, German säen, Gothic saian), from PIE root *se- (1) "to sow" (cf. Latin sero, past tense sevi, past participle satum "to sow;" Old Church Slavonic sejo, sejati; Lithuanian seju, seti "to sow"), source of semen, season (n.), seed (n.), etc. Figurative sense was in Old English.
sow
n.
Old English sugu, su "female of the swine," from Proto-Germanic *su- (cf. Old Saxon, Old High German su, German Sau, Dutch zeug, Old Norse syr), from PIE root *su- (cf. Sanskrit sukarah "wild boar, swine;" Avestan hu "wild boar;" Greek hys "swine;" Latin sus "swine," swinus "pertaining to swine;" Old Church Slavonic svinija "swine;" Lettish sivens "young pig;" Welsh hucc, Irish suig "swine; Old Irish socc "snout, plowshare"), possibly imitative of pig noise, a notion reinforced by the fact that Sanskrit sukharah means "maker of (the sound) 'su.' " Related to swine. As a term of abuse for a woman, attested from c.1500. Sow-bug "hog louse" is from 1750.
Idioms and Phrases with sowed
sow
In addition to the idiom beginning with sow
- sow one's wild oats
also see:
- can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear