prow

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹaʊ/
• Rhymes: -aʊ

Etymology 1

From Middle French proue, from Genoese Italian prua, proa, from Latin prōra, from Ancient Greek πρῷρα (prôira).

Noun

prow (plural prows)

1. (nautical) The front part of a vessel

   Synonyms: bow, stem

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost

     The floating vessel swum / Uplifted, and secure with beaked prow / rode tilting o'er the waves.

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV

     We were already rather close in; but I ordered the U-33's prow turned inshore and we crept slowly along, constantly dipping up the water and tasting it to assure ourselves that we didn't get outside the fresh-water current.

2. A vessel

Synonyms

• forestem
• prore

Translations

fore part of a vessel; bow

• Armenian: քիթ (hy) (kʿitʿ)
• Asturian: proba f, proa f
• Catalan: proa (ca) f
• Dutch: voorsteven (nl) f, boeg (nl) f
• Esperanto: pruo
• Finnish: keula (fi)
• French: proue (fr) f
• Galician: proa f
• German: Bug (de) m, Bugüberhang m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: πρῷρα f (prôira)

• Icelandic: trjóna f, skegg (is) n
• Italian: prua (it) f, prora (it) f
• Latin: prora f, rostrum (la) n
• Maori: ihuwaka

• Norman: d'vant m
• Polish: dziób (pl) m
• Portuguese: proa (pt) f
• Romanian: proră (ro) f, provă (ro) f
• Russian: нос (ru) m (nos)
• Scottish Gaelic: toiseach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прамац m

  Roman: pramac (sh) m

• Spanish: proa (es) f
• Tagalog: duong, doong
• Turkish: pruva (tr)
• Volapük: föfastev, föfanaf

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Old French prou, from Late Latin prode; more at proud.

Adjective

prow (comparative prower, superlative prowest)

1. (archaic) Brave, valiant, gallant.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto III:

     For they be two the prowest knights on ground, / And oft approu’d in many hard assay […]

Related terms

• prowess

Translations

brave, valiant

• Dutch: dapper (nl), moedig (nl)

Etymology 3

Noun

prow (plural prows)

1. Alternative form of proa

Anagrams

• pow'r