low

Etymology 1

From Middle English lowe, lohe, lāh, from Old Norse lágr (“low”), from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz (“lying, flat, situated near the ground, low”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”). Cognate with Scots laich (“low”), Low German leeg (“low, feeble, bad”), Danish lav (“low”), Icelandic lágur (“low”), West Frisian leech (“low”), North Frisian leeg, liig (“low”), Dutch laag (“low”), obsolete German läg (“low”). More at lie.

adj

1. Situated close to, or even below, the ground or another normal reference plane; not high or lofty.
   1. Pertaining to (or, especially of a language: spoken in) in an area which is at a lesser elevation, closer to sea level (especially near the sea), than other regions.
      the low countries
      Low German
   2. (baseball, of a ball) Below the batter's knees.
      the pitch (or: the ball) was low
2. Of less than normal height or upward extent or growth, or of greater than normal depth or recession; below the average or normal level from which elevation is measured.
   a low bow a low tide the Mississippi is unusually low right now
   It is a little low hearb […] 1607 (edition of 1967), Edward Topsell, The history of four-footed beasts
   The men are well-proportioned, rather low than tall, have a brown complexion, and reserved countenance. 1795, James Cavanah Murphy, Travels in Portugal, page 15
   "Now you mention her, I do remember the young lady," said Mrs. Grantly; "a dark girl, very low, and without much figure. She seemed to me to keep very much in the background." 1911(?), Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage, page 13
   1. Low-cut.
      Again, observe the unmeaningness of the low neck fashion. Our mothers wore low dresses and bare arms all day long; they knew if their shoulders and arms were beautiful they would look as well by daylight as by candlelight; […] 1878, Mary Eliza Joy Haweis, The Art of Beauty, London: Chatto & Windus, page 83
      Why do girls wear low dresses? 1917, George Amos Dorsey, Young Low, page 195
3. Not high in status, esteem, or rank, dignity, or quality. (Compare vulgar.)
   low birth low rank the low officials of the bureaucracy low-quality fabric playing low tricks on them a person of low mind
   Now that was low even for you!
   Therefore they must have been common in the 16th century also among the folk first of all not as a high festival food but rather as a low festival and Sunday food, if our experience proves accurate. 1971, Keystone Folklore Quarterly, volume 16, page 208
   Low-Sunday, is the Sunday after Easter, and is so call'd, because it is a low Festival in Comparison of that Day whereon Christ arose from Death to Life again. 1720, The Delphick oracle, page 35
4. Humble, meek, not haughty.
   God loves an humble soul. It is not our high birth, but our low hearts God delights in. 1829, Thomas Watson, Discourses on Important and Interesting Subjects
5. Disparaging; assigning little value or excellence.
   She had a low opinion of cats. He took a low view of dogs.
   The humble soul has low thoughts of his own person; as David, 'I am a worm, and no man.' 1826, Ebenezer Erskine, The Whole Works of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, Sermon VII, page 103
6. Being a nadir, a bottom.
   the low point in her career
   Virginia, for example, reached such a low point in her junior year that she briefly considered suicide … 2012, Faith Hartmann, Only a Fool Would Have Believed It in the First Place
7. Depressed in mood, dejected, sad.
   low spirits
   As low as I felt, at least I didn't have Hunding's [miserable] job. 2016, Rick Riordan, The Hammer of Thor, page 33
8. Lacking health or vitality, strength or vivacity; feeble; weak.
   a low pulse
   made (or: laid) low by sickness
9. Dead. (Compare lay low.)
   And wilt thou weep when I am low? 1830, George Gordon Byron Baron Byron, Byron's Poems, page 511
10. Small, not high (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
    1. Having a small or comparatively smaller concentration of (a substance, which is often but not always linked by "in" when predicative).
       diets low in vitamin A
       made from low-carbon steel
    2. Depleted, or nearing deletion; lacking in supply.
       running low on cash
       When silica is in low supply other classes of algae dominate the phytoplankton composition. 2002, V.N. Bashkin, Robert W. Howarth, Modern Biogeochemistry, page 151
11. (especially in biology) Simple in complexity or development.
    low protozoan animals, low cryptogamic plants, and other low organisms
    In the case of languages spoken by very low races, like the Puris and the Tasmanians, the difficulty of deciding such a point must be very great. 1870, Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches Into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, page 80
12. (chiefly in several set phrases) Favoring simplicity (see e.g. low church, Low Tory).
    Among them there was none more low, more pious, more sincere, or more given to interference. To teach Mr. Worth his duty as a parish clergyman was evidently a necessity to such a bishop. 1881, Anthony Trollope, Dr. Wortle's School: A Novel, page 6
    […] and give a judgment against not only Denison, but the Church's doctrine; and that, it having once been given, we shall not get it reversed; and that the Church of England will seem to be committed to Low doctrine, which […] 1889, Reginald Garton Wilberforce, Life of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford and Winchester, page 152
13. (in several set phrases) Being near the equator.
    the low northern latitudes
14. (acoustics) Grave in pitch, due to being produced by relatively slow vibrations (wave oscillations); flat.
    The note was too low for her to sing.
    Generally, European men have lower voices than their Indian counterparts.
15. Quiet; soft; not loud.
    They spoke in low voices so I would not hear what they were saying.
    Why would you want to play heavy metal at such a low volume?
16. (phonetics) Made with a relatively large opening between the tongue and the palate; made with (part of) the tongue positioned low in the mouth, relative to the palate.
17. (card games) Lesser in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.
    a low card
18. (now rare) Not rich or seasoned; offering the minimum of nutritional requirements; plain, simple.
    The Physicians ordered a low diet, and cooling ptisans in great abundance. 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 173
19. (of an automobile, gear, etc) Designed for a slow (or the slowest) speed.
    low gear

noun

1. A low point or position, literally (as, a depth) or or figuratively (as, a nadir, a time when things are at their worst, least, minimum, etc).
   You have achieved a new low in behavior, Frank.
   Economic growth has hit a new low.
   Unemployment has reached a ten-year low.
   During the 1960s and 1970s, when both the quality of architecture and the appreciation of historic buildings reached an all-time low, British Railways was notorious for replacing good station buildings and canopies with little more than bus shelters, usually in conjunction with de-staffing. December 2 2020, Anthony Lambert, “Reimagining Railway Stations”, in Rail, page 38
   He also called for the US and China to rebuild their fractured relationship, which has plunged to new lows this year, but which Guterres said was “crucial” to climate action. 2022-11-04, Fiona Harvey, “UN chief warns ‘we will be doomed’ without historic climate pact”, in The Guardian
   1. The minimum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
      Today's low was 32 °F.
2. A period of depression; a depressed mood or situation.
   He is in a low right now. the highs and lows of bipolar disorder
3. (meteorology, informal) An area of low pressure; a depression.
   A deep low is centred over the British Isles.
4. The lowest-speed gearing of a power-transmission system, especially of an automotive vehicle.
   Shift out of low before the car gets to eight miles per hour.
5. (card games) The lowest trump, usually the deuce; the lowest trump dealt or drawn.
6. (slang, usually accompanied by "the") A cheap, cost-efficient, or advantageous price.
   He got the brand new Yankees jersey for the low.

adv

1. Close to the ground.
2. Of a pitch, at a lower frequency.
3. With a low voice or sound; not loudly; gently.
   to speak low
4. Under the usual price; at a moderate price; cheaply.
   He sold his wheat low.
5. In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.
   But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low. 21 October 2014, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)
6. In a time approaching our own.
7. (astronomy) In a path near the equator, so that the declination is small, or near the horizon, so that the altitude is small; said of the heavenly bodies with reference to the diurnal revolution.
   The moon runs low, i.e. comparatively near the horizon when on or near the meridian.

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To lower; to make low.
   I shall only say this, that all the other graces must low the sail to faith, and so it is faith must carry us through, being that last triumphing grace, […] 1654 (edition of 1762), Andrew Gray, The Works of … Andrew Gray [Edited by R. Trail and J. Stirling], page 112
   Now to use these as Hypotheseis, as himself in his Word, is pleas'd to low himself to our capacities, is allowable: 1661 (edition of 1885), Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: … Vanity of Dogmatizing, page 85
   The merry fowks that were the ben, / By this time 'gan to low their strain 1790, Andrew Shirrefs, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, page 219
   She was quite free of bad inventions, / But was a bitch o high pretenfions, / For the grit folk o' a dimensions, / Ran for her breed; / Dog-officers may low their pensions, / Since Venie's dead, 'Twas past the art o'man to cure her, / […] 1807, James Ruickbie, The Way-side Cottager; … Miscellaneous Poems, page 178
   Dat 'ill be somtin' ta hise an' low wi' a ütterly breeze. May 6 1899, Shetland News

Etymology 2

From Middle English lough, from Old English hlōh, first and third person singular preterite of hliehhan (“to laugh”). More at laugh.

verb

1. (obsolete) simple past of laugh.

Etymology 3

From Middle English lowen (“to low”), from Old English hlōwan (“to low, bellow, roar”), from Proto-Germanic *hlōaną (“to call, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call”). Cognate with Dutch loeien (“to low”), Middle High German lüejen (“to roar”), dialectal Swedish lumma (“to roar”), Latin calō (“I call”), Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō), Latin clāmō (“I shout, claim”). More at claim.

verb

1. (intransitive) To moo.
   The cattle were lowing.
   In peals of thunder now she roars--and now / She gently whimpers like a lowing cow 1726, Jonathan Swift, “The Lamentations of Glumdalclitch for the Loss of Grildrig”, in Gulliver's Travels, A Voyage to Brobdingnag
   The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea. 1750, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Etymology 4

From Middle English lowe, loghe, from Old Norse logi (“fire, flame, sword”), from Proto-Germanic *lugô (“flame, blaze”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“light”). Cognate with Icelandic logi (“flame”), Swedish låga (“flame”), Danish lue (“flame”), German Lohe (“blaze, flames”), North Frisian leag (“fire, flame”), Old English līeġ (“fire, flame, lightning”). More at leye, light.

noun

1. (countable, UK, Scotland, dialect) A flame; fire; blaze.
   A boy fell aff his chair a' in a low, for the discharge had set him on fire […] 1843, John Wilson, The Noctes Ambrosianœ of "Blackwood"., page 478

verb

1. (UK, Scotland, dialect) To burn; to blaze.
   Driest wood will eithest low, 1724 (edition of 1788), Allan Ramsay, The Tea-Table Miscellany, page 23
   They scarcely left to co'er their fuds, To quench their lowan drouth. 1785, Robert Burns, The Jolly Beggars
   […] in every crevice; and each individual brick shone and “lowed” with the intense heat. “As I am a Christian man,” thought he, “this is verily the mouth of the pit; and I am lost — lost for ever, for —” 1870, Edward Peacock, Ralf Skirlaugh, the Lincolnshire Squire: A Novel, page 197
   Sand, striking a light with his flint and steel, and transferring the flame when it lowed up to the bowl of his tiny elf's pipe, so small that it just let in the top of his little finger as he settled the tobacco in it as it began to burn. 1894, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Raiders, page 82
   The next I saw, James parried a thrust so nearly that I thought him killed; and it lowed up in my mind that this was the girl's father, and in a manner almost my own, and I drew and ran in to sever them. 1895, Robert Louis Stevenson, Works, page 382

Etymology 5

From Old English hlāw, hlǣw (“burial mound”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaiwaz. Obsolete by the 19th century, survives in toponymy as -low.

noun

1. (archaic or obsolete) Barrow, mound, tumulus.
   A barrow or Low, such as were usually cast up over the bodies of eminent Captains. 1686, Robert Plot, The natural history of Staffordshire
2. (Scottish dialectal, archaic) A hill.
   And some they brought the brown lint-seed, and flung it down from the Low. 1847, Mary Howitt, Ballads and other poems

Etymology 6

Aphetic form of allow.

verb

1. Alternative form of 'low