mow

Etymology 1

From Middle English mowen (participle mowen), from Old English māwan (past tense mēow, past participle māwen), from Proto-West Germanic *māan, from Proto-Germanic *mēaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂meh₁- (“to mow, reap”). See also Dutch maaien, German mähen, Danish meje, Swedish meja; also Hittite [script needed] (ḫamešḫa, “spring/early summer”, literally “mowing time”), Latin metō (“I harvest, mow”), Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō, “I mow”).

verb

1. (transitive) To cut down grass or crops.
   He mowed the lawn every few weeks in the summer.
2. (transitive, often with through) To cut down or slaughter in great numbers.
   In the afternoon they attacked again, in close formation: our artillery mowed them, but they came on and on, […] 1915, Captain Robert Palmer, Letters from Mesopotamia
   On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support. 6 March 2019, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 2022-07-04

noun

1. The act of mowing (a garden, grass, etc.).
   The lawn hasn't had a mow for a couple of months, so it's like a jungle out there!
2. (cricket) A shot played with a sweeping or scythe-like motion.
   I consider it would engender a stiff, tame, cautious mode of play, with only now and then a mow, or a chopping hit. 1828, Sporting Magazine (volume 21? 71? page 10)
   At times, they seemed to be playing an especially orgiastic version of Stick Cricket, all computerised mows over midwicket and 30 off the over. 2015, Lawrence Booth, The Shorter Wisden 2015

Etymology 2

Middle English mowe, from Middle French moue (“lip, pout”), from Old French moe (“grimace”), from Frankish *mauwa (“pout, protruding lip”), from Proto-Germanic *mawwō (“muff, sleeve”). Akin to Middle Dutch mouwe (“protruding lip”). Cognate to moue (“pout”).

noun

1. (now only dialectal) A scornful grimace; a wry face.
   Those that paint them dying […] delineate the prisoners spitting in their executioners faces, and making mowes at them. , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.212

verb

1. To make grimaces, mock.
   Nodding, becking, and mowing. 1848, William Tyndale, edited by Henry Walter, Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scriptures

Etymology 3

Old English mūga. Cognate with Norwegian muge (“heap, crowd, flock”).

noun

1. (now regional) A stack of hay, corn, beans or a barn for the storage of hay, corn, beans.
2. The place in a barn where hay or grain in the sheaf is stowed.

verb

1. (agriculture) To put into mows.

Etymology 4

noun

1. Alternative form of mew (a seagull)