bowed

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baʊd/
• Rhymes: -aʊd

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

bowed

1. simple past and past participle of bow

Derived terms

• unbowed

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /boʊd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bəʊd/
• Rhymes: -əʊd
• Homophone: bode

Verb

bowed

1. simple past and past participle of bow

Adjective

bowed (not comparable)

1. Having a bow (rod for playing stringed instruments).
   • 1988, Ian Woodfield, The Early History of the Viol, page 3:

     The viol, he argued, was in essence a bowed guitar, the result of a cross-fertilisation between the 15th-century Spanish plucked instrument known as the vihuela de mano and the medieval fiddle.

   • 2005, Ruth Burgess, Hay & Stardust: Resources for Christmas to Candlemas, page 216:

     Heading over to the MacLeod Centre for some fresh air and a quick bowl of soup— forcing myself out of my little office, narrow work-self, out of the head-down attitude that I must finish what I;ve started — and turning the corner, I see a woman in a gold lame/ jacket and woollen hat with earflaps, playing some sort of stringed instrument in the sun. A bowed sultry, somebody says. 'A bowed what?' 'Psalter — as in psalm.'

   a bowed instrument

2. Having been played by a bow (rod for playing stringed instruments).
   • 1918, C. V. Raman, On the Mechanical Theory of the Vibrations of Bowed Strings and of Musical Instruments of the Violin Family:

     The value 16/49 is evidently of importance as it corresponds to the first principal mode of vibration of a bowed string.

   • 1918, John Duncan, Sydney George Starling ·, A Text Book of Physics for the Use of Students of Science, page 760:

     The mode of vibration of a bowed string is peculiar, since it is not a simple harmonic motion.

   • 2007, Ken Greenebaum, Ronen Barzel, Audio Anecdotes III:

     Today, the behavior of bowed string instruments is reasonably well understood, and efficient synthesis algorithms allow us to reproduce most of the phenomena that appear in real instruments.

   • 2012, Neville H. Fletcher, Thomas D. Rossing, The Physics of Musical Instruments, page 45:

     The motion of a bowed string has interested physicists for many years, and much has been written on the subject.

3. (in combination) Equipped with a bow (weapon).
   • 1875, Thomas Charles Baring, transl., Pindar in English Rhyme; Being an Attempt to Render the Epinikian Odes, with the Principal Remaining Fragments, of Pindar, into English Rhymed Verse, London: Henry S. King & Co., page 91:

     […] the deadly fight / At Sparta sing, that nigh / Kithairon’s heiglits was fought, whereby / The Persian host of bent-bowed archers came / To ruin; […]

   • 1927, Ye Sylvan Archer, page 19:

     Now some of our weak-bowed archers are using glass sights on their bows for 100-yard shooting.

   • 1963, James Michie, transl., The Odes of Horace: The Centennial Hymn, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., published 1965, →LCCN, pages 227–228:

     Apollo, augur, bright-bowed archer, well-loved / Music-master of the nine Muses, healer / Whose skill in medicine can ease the body’s / Ills and infirmities, / By thy affection for the Palatine altars / Prolong, we pray, the Roman State and Latium’s / Prosperity into future cycles, nobler / Eras, for evermore.

   • 1972, The Homeric Hymns and The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, page 56:

     Say, is He Zeus? or perhaps He’s the silver-bowed archer Apollo?

   • 1977, Margaret Cone, Richard Francis Gombrich, transl., The Perfect Generosity of Prince Vessantara: A Buddhist Epic, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →ISBN, page 85:

     Let the strong-bowed archers draw their bows.

   • 2012, Bhikkhu Bodhi, transl., The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, Boston: Wisdom Publications, →ISBN, page 435:

     My speed was like that of a light arrow easily shot by a firm-bowed archer—one trained, skillful, and experienced—across the shadow of a palmyra tree.

4. Bent or curved.
   • 2002, Larry Haun, Vincent Laurence, Tim Snyder, Habitat for Humanity, how to Build a House, page 215:

     Replace any badly bowed studs, or fix a bowed stud by making a cut into the bowed area, forcing the stud straight, and bracing it with a 1x cleat (see the bottom illustration at right).

   • 2006, T. A. Landers, Professional Care of the Racehorse, page 206:

     A bowed tendon is one of the most serious leg problems for racehorses .

Derived terms

• bowed dulcimer
• bowed guitar
• bowedness
• bowed psaltery
• hair-bowed
• outbowed