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say it: bow
bow is a noun and verb meaning "a knot with two loops and loose ends; used to tie shoelaces". It is pronounced /ˈbaʊ/ — bow. It carries 14 recorded senses.
a slightly curved piece of resilient wood with taut horsehair strands; used in playing certain stringed instruments
front part of a vessel or aircraft
“he pointed the bow of the boat toward the finish line”
a weapon for shooting arrows, composed of a curved piece of resilient wood with a taut cord to propel the arrow
an appearance by actors or performers at the end of the concert or play in order to acknowledge the applause of the audience
a decorative interlacing of ribbons
bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head
“He bowed before the King”
“She bowed her head in shame”
bend the head or the upper part of the body in a gesture of respect or greeting
“He bowed before the King”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for bow come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.