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Definition of cow noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

cow

noun
 
/kaʊ/
 
/kaʊ/
Idioms
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  1. a large animal kept on farms to produce milk or beef
    • to milk a cow
    • cow’s milk
    • a herd of dairy cows (= cows kept for their milk)
    compare bull, calf, heifer see also cattleTopics Animalsa1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • beef
    • dairy
    • milch
    … of cows
    • herd
    verb + cow
    • breed
    • milk
    • kill
    cow + verb
    • low
    • moo
    • chew the cud
    cow + noun
    • byre
    • shed
    • pasture
    phrases
    • a breed of cow
    See full entry
  2. the female of the elephant, whale and some other large animals see also sea cow compare bull
  3. (slang) an offensive word for a woman who you do not like
  4. (Australian English, New Zealand English) an unpleasant person, thing or situation
  5. see also cash cow, milch cow, sacred cow
    Word Originnoun Old English , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koe and German Kuh, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin bos and Greek bous.
Idioms
have a cow
  1. (North American English, informal) to become very angry or anxious about something
    • Don't have a cow—it's no big deal.
till the cows come home
  1. (informal) for a very long time; forever
    • You can talk till the cows come home—you’ll never make me change my mind.
See cow in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee cow in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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