jow

See also: Jow

Translingual

Symbol

jow

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Jowulu.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Jowulu terms

English

Etymology 1

Noun

jow (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of jhow (“a kind of tamarisk”).

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• gaou, gau, gow, jaob

Noun

jow (plural jows)

1. (historical) A premetric unit of length in India, equal to approximately a quarter of an inch.

Etymology 3

Alteration of jowl (“to knock, strike, ring a bell”), with loss of final l.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒaʊ/

Verb

jow (third-person singular simple present jows, present participle jowing, simple past and past participle jowed)

1. (UK, dialectal, transitive) To knock, strike, bump.
2. (Scotland, transitive) To ring or toll (a bell).

Etymology 4

Verb

jow

1. (India, obsolete, imperative) Go away; begone.
   • 1861, M. A. Wallace-Dunlop, ‎Rosalind Harriet Maria Wallace-Dunlop Inverarity, The Timely Retreat from India, Before the Mutinies (page 163)

     This is always the way in India: the servant assures you that what you require is not procurable […] you politely reply, "Jow" (go away), and in nine cases out of ten he will return with the desired article; […]

   • 1927, Alfred Claude Brown, The Ordinary Man's India, page 88:

     He angrily tells the crowd to jow (go away), and the nearest of them sheer off a few paces, […]

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873), The Slang Dictionary

Etymology 5

Apparently from earlier *jowl, from Middle English chaulen, chavelen (“to jabber”). Compare jawl (“to talk loudly”).

Verb

jow (third-person singular simple present jows, present participle jowing, simple past and past participle jowed)

1. (UK, dialectal) To talk loudly.

Middle English

Noun

jow

1. alternative form of Jew

Portuguese

Etymology

Contraction of de +‎ outro ("from another"). Possibly further from de outro mundo ("from another world").

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʒow/ [ˈʒoʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʒow/

• Rhymes: -ow, -o

Noun

jow m (invariable)

1. (informal, chiefly Brazil) bro, homie, dude

   Synonyms: mano, cara

Scots

Verb

jow (third-person singular simple present jows, present participle jowin, simple past and past participle jowt)

1. (ambitransitive) To ring or toll (a bell).

Noun

jow (plural jows)

1. A stroke of a bell.