Home / Dictionary / Cow

Cow Very Common

Cow has 8 different meanings across 2 categories:

Noun · Verb

Definitions
Noun
1

female of domestic cattle: "`moo-cow' is a child's term"

"The toddler pointed at the grazing animal and said, "Look at that big moo-cow.""

2

mature female of mammals of which the male is called `bull'

"The farmer led a large black cow into the barn to join her calf."

cow
3

a large unpleasant woman

"The manager called her a cow because she was rude to everyone in the office."

cow
4

An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved.

"The system administrator implemented cow caching to improve disk performance by reducing unnecessary write operations on read-heavy workloads."

5

A chimney cowl.

6

Acronym of copy-on-write.

In plain English: A cow is a large female farm animal that people raise for its milk and meat.

"The black and white cow was eating grass in the green field."

Usage: Use this word primarily as a noun referring to an adult female bovine animal rather than its less common verb form meaning to intimidate. When discussing livestock, specify "cow" for females and steer or bull for males to avoid confusion with other cattle terms.

Verb
1

subdue, restrain, or overcome by affecting with a feeling of awe; frighten (as with threats)

"The loud thunder seemed to cow the small dog into hiding under the porch."

2

To intimidate; to daunt the spirits or courage of.

"The veteran boxer managed not to let the young challenger cow him into a defensive retreat."

In plain English: To cow someone means to scare them into giving up by making them feel intimidated or threatened.

"The crowd began to cow when they saw the angry mob approaching."

Example Sentences
"The black and white cow was eating grass in the green field." noun
"The farmer milked his cow every morning before sunrise." noun
"A black and white cow grazed peacefully in the green pasture." noun
"We visited the petting zoo where children could feed the gentle cows." noun
"The crowd began to cow when they saw the angry mob approaching." verb
Related Terms
milk animal moo bovine farm farm animal beef bull milk animal horse udders udder cattle mammal steer ox farms black calf dairy
Broader Terms (hypernyms)
cattle placental unpleasant woman awe
Narrower Terms (hyponyms)
springer heifer buffalo

Origin

The word "cow" comes from the Old English cū. Its root traces back to the Proto-Indo-European word for cow, gʷṓws.

Rhyming Words
scow hucow moscow mercow noncow lolcow dogcow cracow sea cow killcow anticow werecow ant cow cat cow moo cow mad cow bell cow baby cow holy cow moly cow
Compare
Cow vs