Definition of "cow"

cow¹

/kaʊ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural cows or cattle or kine
1. (strictly) An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved.
2. (loosely or informal) Any member of the species Bos taurus regardless of sex or age, including bulls and calves.
3. (uncommon, uncountable) Beef: the meat of cattle as food.
4. (uncommon) Any bovines or bovids generally, including yaks, buffalo, etc.
5. (biology) A female member of other large species of mammal, including the bovines, moose, whales, seals, hippos, rhinos, manatees, and elephants.
6. (derogatory, UK, Australia, informal) A woman considered unpleasant in some way, particularly one considered nasty, stupid, fat, lazy, or difficult.
  Quotations
  […] the worst insult to a woman, either in London or Paris, is "cow"; a name which might even be a compliment, for cows are among the most likeable of animals.
  1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXXII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […]
  Greville Preston: You've been set up, you silly cow. Now, don't let me hear any more about this unless you have absolute stand-up-in-court proof it's kosher...Mattie Storin: Pig.
  1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 2
  By the time of my third, five months ago, I was a right bossy cow about what I wanted because I knew the drill. For reasons I shan’t bore you with, I got them to induce me at 39 weeks, at 10am, with the epidural going in first, and it was all a dream.
  2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian‎
7. (mining) A chock: a wedge or brake used to stop a machine or car.
8. (US, military, slang) A third-year cadet at West Point.
  Quotations
  An assistant manager, wearing the stripes of a cadet corporal, walked up to Coach Smith. Clint knew him, a Cow from B-l. What had he done to become so outstanding that the Tacs made him a corporal?
  Colonel Red Reeder, West Point Second Classman
  When I was a cow (junior) at West Point, I dated a plebe (freshman), which is considered fraternization in the cadet realm.
  2023, James E Parco, ‎David A Levy, ‎Daphne DePorres, Attitudes Aren't Free: A Call to Action (page 242)
9. (fishing, slang) A fish that is very large for its species, such as a large striped bass or large bluefin tuna.

cow²

/kaʊ/

verb
third-person singular simple present cows, present participle cowing, simple past and past participle cowed
1. (transitive, chiefly in the passive voice) To intimidate; to daunt the spirits or courage of.
  Quotations
  To vanquish a people already cowed.
  1711 September 22 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, September 11, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 167; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, page Steele
  Emily looked across at the girl. Large, steady, purplish-grey eyes gazed into beady, twinkling, black ones—gazed unquailingly—with something in them that cowed and compelled. The black eyes wavered and fell, their owner covering her retreat with another giggle and toss of her short braid of hair.
  1923, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Chapter 8”, in Emily of New Moon

cow³

/kaʊ/

noun
plural cows
1. (UK, dialect) A chimney cowl.
  Quotations
  Who could live to gaze from day to day on bricks and slates, who had once felt the influence of a scene like this? Who could continue to exist, where there are no cows but the cows on the chimneypots; nothing redolent of Pan but pan-tiles; […]
  1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

cow⁴

/kaʊ/

noun
plural cows
1. (astronomy) LFBOT: Synonym of luminous fast blue optical transient

Definition of "cow"

cow1

noun

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cow2

verb

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cow3

noun

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cow4

noun

cow¹

cow²

cow³

cow⁴