- the act of bending your head or the upper part of your body forward in order to say hello or goodbye to somebody or to show respect
- She gave a slight bow of her head in greeting.
- The messenger made a formal bow and left the room.
Extra Examples- He gave a small bow and left the room.
- He made a deep bow to the king.
- He gave her a deep bow.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- deep
- low
- little
- …
- give
- make
- take
- …
- bow1 to
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- (also bows [plural])the front part of a boat or ship
- A huge whale crossed our bows.
- We left two men in the bow to receive the cargo.
- There's a small boat on the port bow.
Extra ExamplesTopics Transport by waterc2- The ship's name was printed on her bow.
- There were huge waves breaking over the bows.
- They fired a shot across our bow/bows.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- port
- starboard
- cross
- across the, our, etc. bow1
- across the, our, etc. bow1s
- in the bow1
- …
Word OriginOld English būgan ‘bend, stoop’, of Germanic origin; related to German biegen, also to bow2. Bow of a boat/ship is late Middle English: from Low German boog, Dutch boeg, ‘shoulder or ship's bow’; related to bough.
Idioms
See bow in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee bow in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englisha shot across the/somebody’s bows
- something that you say or do as a warning to somebody about what might happen if they do not change, etc.
take a/your bow
- (of a performer) to bow to the audience as they are applauding you
- She came back on stage to take another bow.
- The song ended and Albert took a bow.
- (figurative) The boss takes his final bow today.
- (figurative) The team's chairman takes his final bow at this match.
Check pronunciation:
bow1