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Bow in Scrabble and Meaning

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What does bow mean? Is bow a Scrabble word?

How many points in Scrabble is bow worth? bow how many points in Words With Friends? What does bow mean? Get all these answers on this page.

Scrabble® and Words with Friends® points for bow

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Is bow a Scrabble word?

Yes. The word bow is a Scrabble US word. The word bow is worth 8 points in Scrabble:

B3O1W4

Is bow a Scrabble UK word?

Yes. The word bow is a Scrabble UK word and has 8 points:

B3O1W4

Is bow a Words With Friends word?

Yes. The word bow is a Words With Friends word. The word bow is worth 9 points in Words With Friends (WWF):

B4O1W4

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Valid words made from Bow

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3-letter words (1 found)

BOW,

2-letter words (4 found)

BO,OB,OW,WO,

You can make 5 words from bow according to the Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

All 3 letters words made out of bow

bow obw bwo wbo owb wob

Note: these 'words' (valid or invalid) are all the permutations of the word bow. These words are obtained by scrambling the letters in bow.

Definitions and meaning of bow

bow

Etymology 1

From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô.

Cognate with West Frisian boge, Dutch boog, German Bogen, Swedish båge.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bō, IPA(key): /bəʊ/
  • (General American) enPR: bō, IPA(key): /boʊ/
  • Rhymes: -əʊ
  • Homophone: beau

Noun

bow (plural bows)

  2. A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
  3. A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
  5. A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
  6. A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.
  8. A type of knot with two loops, used to tie together two cords such as shoelaces or apron strings, and frequently used as decoration, such as in gift-wrapping.
  9. Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.
  10. The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
  11. Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.
  12. Any instrument consisting of an elastic rod, with ends connected by a string, employed for giving reciprocating motion to a drill, or for preparing and arranging hair, fur, etc., used by hatters.
  13. (nautical) A crude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
  14. (saddlery) Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddle tree.
  15. The part of a key that is not inserted into the lock and that is used to turn the key.
    Coordinate term: blade
  16. Either of the two handles of a pair of scissors.
Synonyms
  • (bow-shaped bend): arc, bend, curve
  • (tool for playing stringed instruments): fiddlestick
  • (a type of stringed instrument): musical bow
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

bow (third-person singular simple present bows, present participle bowing, simple past and past participle bowed)

  1. To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.
  2. (intransitive) To become bent or curved.
  3. (transitive) To make something bend or curve.
  4. (transitive, figurative) To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend, figuratively; to turn; to incline.
  5. (transitive, figurative) To humble or subdue, to make submit.
Derived terms
  • bower
  • diddley bower
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English bowen, buwen, buȝen, from Old English būgan, from Proto-West Germanic *beugan, from Proto-Germanic *beuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to bend”). Cognate with West Frisian bûge (“to bow”), Dutch buigen (“to bow”), German biegen (“to bow”), Danish bue (“to curve, arch”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: bou, IPA(key): /baʊ/
  • Rhymes: -aʊ
  • Homophone: bough

Verb

bow (third-person singular simple present bows, present participle bowing, simple past and past participle bowed)

  1. (intransitive) To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.
  2. (transitive and intransitive) To debut.
    • 2010 (publication date), Kara Krekeler, "Rebuilding the opera house", West End Word, volume 39, number 26, December 22, 2010 – January 11, 2011, page 1:
      SCP recently announced that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will bow on the newly renovated stage next December.
  3. (intransitive) To defer (to something).
  4. (transitive) To give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.
Hypernyms
  • (gesture): gesture; congee, congé, conge
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. A gesture, usually showing respect, made by inclining the head or bending forward at the waist; a reverence
    He made a polite bow as he entered the room.
Hypernyms
  • (gesture): gesture; congee, congé, conge
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English bowe, bowgh, a borrowing from Middle Low German bôch and/or Middle Dutch boech, from Proto-Germanic *bōguz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵʰus (“arm”). Cognate with Dutch boeg (“bow”), Danish bov (“bow”), Swedish bog (“bow”). Doublet of bough.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: bou, IPA(key): /baʊ/
  • Rhymes: -aʊ
  • Homophone: bough

Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. (nautical) The front of a boat or ship.
  2. (rowing) The rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.
Usage notes
  • Often used in the plural, the ship being considered to have starboard and port bows, meeting at the stem.
Synonyms
  • (of a ship): prow
Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of "of a ship"): poop, stern
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 4

See bough.

Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. Obsolete spelling of bough

Etymology 5

Borrowed from Mandarin 包 (bāo) or Cantonese 包 (baau1)

Alternative forms

  • bao, bau

Noun

bow (plural bows)

  1. Alternative form of bao; any of several Chinese buns and breads
Derived terms

See bao

Translations

See also

  • bow-wow, bow chicka wow wow (different etymology)
  • bow diddley, diddley bow (different etymology)
  • coll'arco
  • curtsey
  • kowtow
  • throw them bows

Further reading

  • Bow (weapon) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia (Wikipedia article on bows (weapons))
  • Bow (knot) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia (Wikipedia article on bows (the knots))
  • Bowing (social) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia (Wikipedia article on bows, the gestures of respect)
  • Bow (ship) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia (Wikipedia article on the bows of ships)
  • Bow (music) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia (Wikipedia article on bows used to play string instruments)
  • Musical bow on Wikipedia.Wikipedia (Wikipedia article on musical bows)

References

  • Bow in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

  • WBO, Wob

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From Dutch bouwen (“to build”).

Verb

bow

  1. to build
  2. (figurative, with tapu) to trust, to depend on
    wan sma di yu kan bow na en tapu ― someone you can depend on

Vilamovian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /boːf/

Noun

bōw f (plural bowa)

  1. woman
  2. wife

Source: wiktionary.org