bowe

English

Noun

bowe (plural bowes)

1. Obsolete spelling of bow.

Verb

bowe (third-person singular simple present bowes, present participle bowing, simple past and past participle bowed)

1. Obsolete spelling of bow.
   • c. 1691, John Aubrey, Naturall Historie of Wiltshire:

     We have a custome, that when one sneezes, every one els putts off his hatt, and bowes, and cries God bless ye Sir.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• boue, boghe, boȝe

Etymology

From Old English boga, from Proto-West Germanic *bogō, in turn from Proto-Germanic *bugô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔu̯(ə)/

Noun

bowe (plural bowes or bowen)

1. bow
   • c. 1390, [William Langland], “Paſſus scdu͞s de dobeſt”, in Peres plouhman (X, C-text), southwest Worcestershire, published c. 1395, folio 103, recto; republished as MS. HM 143, San Marino, CA: Huntingdon Digital Library, p. 2011:

     He baer a bowe ın hıs hoend and many brode arwes / Weren fythered w^t fayre bıheſte and many a fals treuthe

     He held a bow in his hand and many broad arrows / [which] were feathered with fine agreement[s] and many a false truth […]

2. bowman

Derived terms

• elbowe
• reynbowe
• sadel-bowe

Descendants

• English: bow
• Scots: bow
• → Middle Welsh: bwa
  • Welsh: bwa

References

• “boue, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.