stow
stow
1 American
[stoh]
/ stoʊ /
verb (used with object)
-
stows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stowed,
past participle, past
-
stowing
present participle
-
Nautical.
-
to put (cargo, provisions, etc.) in the places intended for them.
-
to put (sails, spars, gear, etc.) in the proper place or condition when not in use.
-
-
to put in a place or receptacle, as for storage or reserve; pack.
He stowed the potatoes in our cellar.
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to fill (a place or receptacle) by packing.
to stow a carton with books.
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to have or afford room for; hold.
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Slang. to stop; break off.
Stow it! Stow the talk!
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to put away, as in a safe or convenient place (often followed byaway ).
-
to lodge or quarter.
verb phrase
Stow
2
American
[stoh]
/ stoʊ /
noun
stow
1
British
/ stəʊ /
verb
-
(often foll by away) to pack or store
-
to fill by packing
-
nautical to pack or put away (cargo, sails and other gear, etc)
-
to have enough room for
-
slang (usually imperative) to cease from
stow your noise!
stow it!
Stow
2
British
/ stəʊ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
stowsimple
-
stowssimple
-
have stowedperfect
-
has stowedperfect
-
am stowingprogressive
-
are stowingprogressive
-
is stowingprogressive
-
have been stowingperfect progressive
-
has been stowingperfect progressive
Past
-
stowedsimple
-
had stowedperfect
-
was stowingprogressive
-
were stowingprogressive
-
had been stowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stow
1300–50; Middle English stowen, Old English stōwigan to keep, hold back (literally, to place), derivative of stōw place; akin to Old Norse eldstō fireplace, Gothic stojan to judge (literally, to place)
Explanation
When you stow something, you store it or pack it away neatly. If you move into a tiny college dorm room, you might have to stow your shoes under the bed. On an airplane, you are only allowed to bring small suitcases that you can stow in the overhead bins or under the seat in front of you. In an adventure novel, pirates might stow their treasure in a seaside cave. In Old English, stow was a noun, meaning "a place or spot."
Vocabulary lists containing stow
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:
The bigger challenge is to stow away enough fuel for next winter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026
The gift suggestions here all have two things in common: They’re small enough to stow in a stocking, and they give off serious big California energy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2024
Flights do not include "trolley bags" to stow in overhead compartments or checked baggage.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2024
Amazon said it will eventually be looking for workers to stow, pick, pack and sort packages, paying hourly wages between $17 and $28.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
Drenched to the skin by torrential rain, they unloaded the shells from a baggage car, lifted them over their heads, and hustled down to the river to stow the boats and inspect their new quarters.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
The B6363 Lauder to Stow road is already closed because of heat damage.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
He touted familiar features like Stow ’n Go seats, which fold into the floor to maximize storage space, and a camera that lets parents see what their kids are doing in the back seats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
The jurors ordered the team to pay Stow $13.9 million in damages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
Honored by Stow, Mass., at 99, she lived almost another decade, to 108.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
Behind Nat a deep voice rumbled, “Avast there, Ben Meeker! Stow that gab about being becalmed!”
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
She stows a small knitted figurine of legendary England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, made for her by a friend's grandmother when Aldcroft was a teenager, in her kit bag for every game.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025
A number of guest rooms also have flexible sleeping setups, like a queen bed that stows into the wall, and a bunk bed with a lower queen bed and an upper twin bed.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2022
The 2.4Ghz wireless dongle stows neatly away in the base of the chassis.
From The Verge ● Jul. 26, 2022
Earlier this year, the labor group said it collected about 2,000 signatures from workers at the four Staten Island facilities where Amazon stows products and packages them for shipment to customers.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2021
At home, in the evenings, her father stows their shoes in the same cubby, hangs their coats on the same hooks.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
The yellow fever virus, also indigenous to Africa, must have stowed away too.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
The boat was also short of lifebelts and buoyancy apparatus was stowed away.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
“Hell yeah need to bust all our history out that’s been stowed away,” one said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Tchiroma, stowed away in his residence since Monday, said Friday that part of the army was protecting him and called for public support through a "ghost towns" strategy from Monday to Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2025
“We’ve been here since Epidram, when we accidentally stowed away in one of your crates.”
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Tahoe straddles California and Nevada, plus several local counties and towns, often with differing guidelines on something as basic as stowing garbage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Resources are also being used to try to prevent migrants stowing away on cross-channel freight.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
By day, they collected healthy spruce tree leaves and fresh mosses and lichens from the ground, stowing their scientific treasure in zip-close bags as they went.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024
He started out cleaning boats, folding sails and stowing gear in Annapolis.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
We crawled into the back, stowing away beneath a tarpaulin.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
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.
