Bowery

See also: bowery

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaʊəɹi/

Etymology 1

Unexplained. Perhaps a topographic surname for someone who lived in a small cottage, from Middle English bour (“chamber, cottage”) or, alternatively, an occupational surname for someone who worked there.

Alternative forms

• Bowry

Proper noun

Bowery (plural Bowerys)

1. A surname from Middle English.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Bowery is the 38850^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 568 individuals. Bowery is most common among White (87.68%) individuals.

Etymology 2

From Dutch bouwerij (“farm”).

Proper noun

the Bowery

1. A street and a district of New York City, whose residents were traditionally of a low socioeconomic class.
   • 1919, Frank L. Packard, chapter 3, in The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale:

     We were seen quarrelling this afternoon in a saloon over on the Bowery.

   • 2017, Stephen Pimpare, Ghettos, Tramps, and Welfare Queens, page 227:

     […] sewer people, derelicts, bag ladies, undergrounders, and Bowery bums. Whatever the cause of their illness, as in Scanners, homeless people are victims but, more importantly, a threat to be eliminated.

Adjective

Bowery (comparative more Bowery, superlative most Bowery)

1. (US, dated) Characteristic of this street; swaggering; flashy.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “Bowery”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Bowery”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 208.

Anagrams

• Bowyer, bowyer