stow
/stoʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.06 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To put something away in a compact and tidy manner, in its proper place, or in a suitable place.
Transitive verb
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "Yet everybody knows that a cargo properly stowed in a seaworthy craft reaches market in much the better condition than by rail, though perhaps it is some hours longer on the way."
- "Ar.[…]The Marriners all vnder hatches ſtowed, / Who, with a Charme ioynd to their ſuffred labour / I haue left aſleep :[…]"
- "But when I strove my flame to tell, / Says she, 'Come, stow that patter, / If you're a cove wot likes a gal, / Vy don't you stand some gatter?' / In course I instantly complied— / Two brimming quarts of porter, / With sev'ral goes of gin beside, / Drain'd Bet the Coaley's daughter."
- "“Come, come,” said Silver; “stow this talk. He’s dead, and he don’t walk, that I know; leastways, he won’t walk by day, and you may lay to that. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons.”"
- "His seconde hawke wexyd gery […] on the rode loft She perkyd her to rest. The fauconer then was prest, Came runnynge with a dow, And cryed, ‘Stow, stow, stow!’ But she wold not bow."
Etymology
From Middle English stowe, from Old English stōw (“place, location”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōu, from Proto-Germanic *stōō (“a place, stowage”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, place, put”). Cognate with Old Frisian stō (“place”), Icelandic stó (“fireplace”), Dutch stouw (“place”), German Stau (“congestion”). See also -stow.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /stoʊ/
- British English: /stəʊ/