1. a stroke with a curved piece of wood with taut horsehair strands that is used in playing stringed instruments
2. a slightly curved piece of resilient wood with taut horsehair strands, used in playing certain stringed instrument
3. curved piece of resilient wood with taut cord to propel arrows
4. front part of a vessel or aircraft; "he pointed the bow of the boat toward the finish line"
5. a knot with two loops and loose ends; used to tie shoelaces
6. a decorative interlacing of ribbons
7. an appearance by actors or performers at the end of the concert or play in order to acknowledge the applause of the audience
8. bending the head or body or knee as a sign of reverence or submission or shame
9. something curved in shape
10. submit or yield to another''s wish or opinion; "The government bowed to the military pressure"
11. bend one''s knee or body, or lower one''s head; "He bowed before the King"; "She bowed her head in shame"
12. play on a string instrument
13. bend the head or the upper part of the body in a gesture of respect or greeting; "He bowed before the King"
14. bend one''s back forward from the waist on down; "he crouched down"; "She bowed before the Queen"; "The young man stooped to pick up the girl''s purse"

Similar Words: fore, prow, stem, bowknot, curtain call, bowing, obeisance, arc, submit, defer, accede, give in, bow down, crouch, stoop, bend

 

See Also: prostrate, bow down, stoop to

 

Hyponyms: down-bow, up-bow, fiddlestick, violin bow, crossbow, Cupid's bow, handbow, longbow, curtsy, curtsey, genuflection, genuflexion, kowtow, kotow, scrape, scraping, salaam, rainbow, congee, conge, take a bow, genuflect, squinch, huddle, cower

 

Entailments: change posture

 

Part Meronyms: bow and arrow, vessel, watercraft

 

Derivational Morphology: crouch, stoop, bend, bow down, arch, curve, arc, deference, respect, respectfulness, submission, compliance, submitter, bowing, obeisance, stooper

 

Language Translations:
Afrikaans: strykstok		Albanian: hark
Bosnian: luk		Breton: gwareg
Catalan: arc and corba and corbar and proa		Chinese: 鞠躬 and 弓 and 弦樂器的弓 and 彎曲
Croatian: luk		Danish: bov and bue and buk and bukke
Dutch: boeg and boog and buigen and buiging and een buiging and strijkstok		Esperanto: arko and arĉo and pruo
Estonian: vibu		Finnish: jousi and kaari and keula and kumarrus and kumartaa and taipua
French: arc and archet and étrave and fléchir and révérence and s'incliner		Frisian: boech and strykstôk
German: Bogen and Bug and sich biegen and sich verbeugen and Verbeugung		Greek: τόξο
Hebrew: להתכופף and לקוד and קֶשֶת and קידה and קשת		Hungarian: íj and hajóorr and meghajol and vonó
Icelandic: bogi and bogna and hneiging and hneigja sig and kjölur		Ido: pruo
Italian: arco and curvarsi and inchinarsi and prua		Japanese: 辞儀 and 弓
Kurdish: kevan		Latin: arcus
Lithuanian: smičius		Malay: busur
Malayalam: കുനിയുക and വില്ല്		Norwegian: baug and bue
Polish: dziób and smyczek and ukłonić się and zgięcie and łuk		Portuguese: arco and curvar-se and proa and reverência
Romanian: arc		Russian: гнуться and излучина and кланяться and лук and нос and поклон and смычок
Serbian: naklon		Slovak: luk and prova and sláčik
Slovene: lok		Spanish: arco and arquear and doblar and proa and reverencia
Swedish: båge and böja and bocka and bockning and bog and stråke		Telugu: విల్లు
Turkish: yay