▪ I. low, n.1
(ləʊ)
Also 3–5, 9 lowe, 6 looe, 7 loe. Cf. law n.3
[OE. hláw, hlǽw masc., = OS. hlêo (dat. hlêwe) grave-mound, OHG. hlêo (MHG. lê) grave-mound, hill, Goth. hlaiw neut., grave (whence hlaiwasnôs pl., graves):—OTeut. *hlaiwoz-, -iz- neut.:—pre-Teut. *kloiwos-, -es-, f. root *klei- to slope: see lean v. and cf. L. clīvus hill.]
1. = law n.3 1. arch.
| Beowulf (Z.) 1120 Wand to wolcnum wælfyra mæst hlynode for hlawe. c 1200 Ormin 9205 And illc an lawe and illc an hill Shall niþþredd beon and laȝhedd. c 1300 Havelok 1699 Þo stod hauelok als a lowe Aboven [þo] þat þer-inne wore. a 1400–50 Alexander 1090 May þou oght, lede, yonder low lift on þi shulder. c 1500 Cov. Corp. Chr. Plays, Shearmen & Taylors 218 Harke! I here owre brothur on the looe; This ys hys woise. a 1650 Sir Lionell 70 in Furnivall Percy Folio I. 78 The Gyant lyes vnder yond low. a 1765 R. Hood & Guy of Gisborne xlvi. in Child Ballads III. 93/2 That beheard the sheriffe of Nottingham, As he leaned vnder a lowe. 1847 M. Howitt Ballads 66 And some they brought the brown lint-seed, and flung it down from the Low. 1901 Speaker 20 Apr. 77/1 The coarse meadows swell up into rounded or pointed ‘lows’. |
2. A burial-mound; a tumulus. ?
Obs.| a 1000 Boeth. Metr. x. 43 Hwa wat nu þæs wisan Welandes ban, on hwelcum hi hlæwa hrusan þeccen. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 402 A barrow or Low, such as were usually cast up over the bodies of eminent Captains. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Wiggington, Near this place are certain Lows, which are reckoned among the Roman Tumuli. |
▪ II. low, lowe, n.2 Chiefly
Sc. and
north. (
lou)
Also 3
loȝhe, 4
lou, (
lawhe,
lo), 5
logh, (
lawe).
[a. ON. loge wk. masc. (Da. lue) = OFris. loga:—OTeut. type *logon- (lugon-), pre-Teut. lukón-, cogn. w. MHG., mod.G. lohe fem.:—OTeut. type *lohâ (luhâ):—pre-Teut. *l{uacu}kā, f. *luk- wk. grade of the Aryan root *leuk-: see leye, and light n.] 1. Flame; a flame, a blaze.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 356 Cherubines sweorde..of lai [MS. T. lohe]. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 643 Al-so heȝe ðe lowe sal gon, So ðe flod flet de dunes on. a 1300 Cursor M. 5739 Him thoght brennand he sagh a tre Als it wit lou war al vm-laid. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9430 Lowe and reke with stormes melled. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 1054 The rude low rais full heych adown that hauld. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. xvi. (S.T.S.) 88 His hede apperit (as It war blesand) in ane rede low. 1631 A. Craig Pilgr. & Hermit 8 The Coale that mee burnes to the bone, will I blow, Though Liver, Lungs, and Lights, fly vp in a low. 1785 Burns Vision i. 39 By my ingle-lowe I saw..A tight, outlandish Hizzie. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf iii, The low of the candle, if the wind wad let it bide steady. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley iv, A verse blazing wi' a blue brimstone low. 1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 126 For every time I raised the lowe That scared the dusty plain,..I'll light the land with twain. 1901 Trans. Stirling Nat. Hist. Soc. 51 The Dead Candle... A blue lowe, moving along slowly about three feet from the ground. |
b. Phrases.
(to be, set) in, on a low, in a flame, on fire;
to put the low to, to set fire to;
to take a low, to catch fire.
| c 1200 Ormin 16185 All alls itt wære all oferr hemm O loȝhe. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14692 Þe fir, þe tonder, þe brymston hot, Kyndled on lowe, & vp hit smot. c 1422 Hoccleve Learn to die 703 Whan þat a greet toun set is on a lowe. a 1584 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 745 Will flatterit him,..An set him in an low. 1722 Ramsay Three Bonnets ii. 103 Soon my beard will tak' a low. 1815 Scott Guy M. x, She [a vessel] was..in a light low. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 130 A..boy fell off his chair a' in a low, for the discharge had set him on fire. 1865 G. Macdonald A. Forbes viii. 25 Ye wad hae the hoose in a low aboot oor lugs. |
2. spec. a. A light used by salmon-poachers.
| 1814 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1857) I. 146 For making lows or fish-lights for fishing in the night. 1856 Denham Tracts (1892) I. 315 This used to be done with a low and a leister. |
b. A light or piece of candle used by miners.
| 1816 in I. H. H. Holmes Coal Mines Durham, etc. 245. 1865 Trapper's Petit. in Our Coal & Coal-fields 155 'Tis very dark and that small low You gave me soon will burn away. |
▪ III. † low, n.3 Obs. [var. of lough1.] A lake, loch, river, water.
| 1387 [see lough2]. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 153 Swannys swouchis throw owt the rysp and redis Our al thir lowys. 1539 in Rec. Peebles (1872) 57 Woddis, lowis, fischingis [etc.]. [1563 Ibid. 72 Louchis.] |
▪ IV. † low, n.4 Sc. Obs. [aphetic f. *allow n. f. allow v.] Allowance, permission.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) III. 464 [He] passit hame awa, But lowe or leif that tyme of ony wicht. |
▪ V. low, n.5 (
ləʊ)
[f. low v.4] The action of lowing; the ordinary sound uttered by an ox or cow.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The nolt maid noyis vitht mony loud lou. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. iv. 48 Bull Ioue, sir, had an amiable low. 1726–46 Thomson Winter 85 The cattle from the untasted fields return, And ask with meaning low their wonted stalls. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 111 On list'ning ears so sweet Fall the mellow low and bleat. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxxvii. (1889) 360 A comfortable low came at intervals from the cattle, revelling in the abundant herbage. |
▪ VI. low, n.6 See
loor (
= foot-rot in cattle).
▪ VII. low, a. and n. (
ləʊ)
Forms: 2–3
lah (
inflected laȝe), 3
lahȝh,
laih, 3–4
laȝh, 4
lagh(e, 3
lohe,
louh, 3–4
loȝ(e, 4
loghe, 4–5
louȝ(e, (4
lowh,
loewȝ), 5
lough,
lowȝe, 3–7
lowe, (5
loe, 7
lo), 4–
low. Also
Sc. and
north. 4–6
lawe, 4, 7
lau(e, 4–5
lauch(t,
lawch, 5
lawgh, 6
lewche, 6–9
leuch(e, 8–9
leugh; see also
laigh.
[Early ME. lāh (lāᵹ-), a. ON. lág-r (Sw. låg, Da. lav) = OFris. lêge, lêch, MDu. lage, laech, lege, leech (Du. laag), MHG. læge flat (early and dial. mod.G. läg), OE. with different meaning *lǽᵹe in lǽᵹhrycg (see lea a.):—OTeut. *læ̂gio- from the root of lie v.1] A. adj. (Usually the opposite of
high.)
I. Literal senses.
1. a. Of small upward extent or growth; not tall; little, short. (Now rarely of persons, though still commonly said of stature.)
| c 1150 Grave 17 in Thorpe Analecta (1834) 142 Þin hus..bið unheh and lah,..ðe hele-waᵹes beoð laᵹe, sid-waᵹes unheᵹe. c 1200 Ormin 15232 Þær wass an bennkinnge lah. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 380 The vallis of the toune than wer Sa law, that [etc.]. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 304 Make hem [sc. trees] lough in cleuis that decline. 1530 Palsgr. 452/2, I..make a thynge so lowe that it be levell with the grounde. 1558 Galway Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 388 The said John..ys bound to make..ther but a loe gardinge, not plantinge anny great tres. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 663 Low-shrubs wither at the Cedars roote. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 474 It is a little low hearb. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 250 We shall..be turn'd..to apes With foreheads villanous low. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 245 Low men love to stand on tiptoes. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 80 Their cowes are low, and their horns grow only skin deep. 1724 R. Wodrow Life J. Wodrow (1828) 55 My mother was of a stature rather low than tall. 1771 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. iv. (1876) 348 Agesilaus was low, lame and of a mean appearance. 1827 Disraeli Viv. Grey vii. viii. V. 95 Her full voluptuous growth gave you..the impression that she was somewhat low in stature. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 483 His forehead low as that of a baboon. 1855 Browning How it Strikes a Contemporary 102 Who..stood about the neat low truckle bed. 1860 Trollope Framley P. II. ix. 183, I do remember the young lady,..a dark girl, very low, and without much figure. 1874 Parker Goth. Archit. i. iii. 56 Early Norman buildings were generally low. |
b. Rising but little from a surface.
low relief (
a)
= bas-relief 1; (
b)
= bas-relief 2.
| 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 380 The low-relieves, and ornaments of columns and edifices. 1901 19th Cent. July 100 The modelling in low-relief of a life-sized bull in painted terra cotta. |
c. Of a woman's dress: Cut so as to leave the neck exposed.
| 1857 Trollope Barchester T. xxxvi. (1858) 299 I'm sorry you've come in such low dresses, as we are all going out of doors. 1899 Rider Haggard Swallow iii, A lovely lady in a low dress. |
2. a. Situated not far above the ground or some other downward limit; not elevated in position.
† Formerly prefixed to names of countries or districts, denoting the part near the sea-shore (now only in the comparative
lower), as
Low Germany,
Low Egypt (
obs.). Also
low-country. (
Cf. Low Dutch,
Low German.)
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1761 Þe myst dryues þorȝ þe lyst of the lyfte, bi the loȝ medoes. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xxxiv. 9 Turned shuln ben his stremes in to pich, and his loewȝ erthe in to brunston. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) Pref. 3 Egipte þe hie and þe lawe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 6952 He led hom forth lyuely by a law vale. c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 622 The lauch way till Enrawyn thai ryd. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxv. (Percy Soc.) 183 We were glad when ye had forsaken The lowe vale. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 259 b, She was laden with much ordinaunce, and the portes left open, whiche were very lowe. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 75/1 All alongst the sea coasts of low Germanie. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 38 [They] draw thaim selffis to ane leuche place out of the Inglischemenis sight. 1626 Bacon Sylva §832 The Raine-Bow consisteth of a Glomeration of Small Drops, which cannot possibly fall, but from the Aire, that is very Low. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 221 The second Cardinal house is the fourth, called the low heaven. 1707 Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. iii. iii. 274 His [an Earl's] Coronet hath the Pearls raised upon Points, and Leaves low between. 1744 Berkeley Siris §25 Trees growing in low and shady places do not yield so good tar. 1796 Coleridge Destiny of Nations 19 In this low world Placed with our backs to bright reality. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 47 Orfordness, a low beach running out into the sea. |
b. Of a heavenly body: Near the horizon.
| 1676 Walton & Cotton Angler ii. ii. (1875) 228 The sun grows low. 1801 Campbell Hohenlinden 1 On Linden, when the sun was low, All bloodless lay the untrodden snow. 1811 A. Scott Poems 8 (Jam.) The moon, leugh i' the wast, shone bright. 1859 Tennyson Enid 598 The third day..Made a low splendour in the world. 1889 ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xvi, There was a low moon. |
c. Lying dead, or dead and buried. Now only
pred. † Formerly also
absol.| c 1315 Shoreham Poems (E.E.T.S.) v. 329 Þat body þat he tok of hys oȝen, Hou mytte hyt ligge amang þe loȝen. 1808 Byron (title) And wilt thou weep when I am low? 1826 Scott in Croker Papers 19 Mar., My head may be low—I hope it will—before the time comes. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 18 The last great Englishman is low. |
† d. Of the ear: ‘Bowed down’.
Obs.| c 1400 Destr. Troy 2650 Let your lordship lystyn with a loue ere. |
e. Of an obeisance: Profound, deep.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 234 He toke of hys cappe, and made a low and solempne obeysance. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Induct. i. 53 With a lowe submissiue reuerence Say [etc.]. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. vi. 947 He presently doffes his cap most solemnly, makes a low-leg to his ladiship. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 157 Rising up to make him a low congey, she proceeded. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 835. 1887 W. P. Frith Autobiog. I. xix. 237 ‘I am very much obliged to you’, making a low bow. |
f. Phonetics. Of a vowel sound: Produced with the tongue or some part of it in a low position. Also
Comb., as
low-back,
low-central,
low-front,
low-mid,
low-rising, used chiefly attributively or quasi-adj.
| 1876 [see high a. 4 b]. 1924 H. E. Palmer Gram. Spoken Eng. i. 13 Low-Rising. Nucleus-tone. 1934 J. J. Hogan Outl. Eng. Philol. 14, æ: low-front. 1934 Webster, Low-back, low-central. 1944 T. H. Wetmore in Studies in Speech & Drama in Honor of A. M. Drummond 244 (title) The dialectal significance of the non-phonemic low-back vowel variants before R. 1951 Z. S. Harris Methods Struct. Ling. vi. 57 Low-rising intonation. 1962 Amer. Speech XXXVII. 165 The low-central free vowel /ɑ/. 1962 Low-front [see high a. 4 b]. 1965 Language XLI. 346 A low-back /ə/. Ibid., In disyllabic words, Ngbaka shows only four sequences: high-mid, mid-high, mid-low, and low-mid. 1970 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1968 l. 13 Sometimes..it occurs as a retracted low-front or as a low-central monophthong. |
g. Path.| 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases xix. 317 Occasionally it [sc. epidemic gangrenous rectitis] may begin higher up—in the colon. In this case it is called the ‘high’ form; in the other, the ‘low’ or rectal form. |
h. Phr.
low to paper: of type, of less than normal height.
| [1683–4 J. Moxon Mech. Exerc. Printing (1962) 346 Low against Paper.] 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 698/2 Types lower than the ordinary dimension are said to be low to paper, and if surrounded by higher types will not give a perfect impression. 1922 D. B. Updike Printing Types I. ii. 34 The standard height-to-paper is 0·918 inch. Types exceeding or falling short of this measurement are termed respectively ‘high-to-paper’ and ‘low-to-paper’. |
† 3. Situated under the level of the earth's surface, far down in the ground; deep.
Obs. in positive;
cf. lower,
lowest.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvii. 30 He mekis þaim in til þe lawe pitt of hell. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 314/1 Low, or lowe, profundus. c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 157 And ek thar to he was in presoune law. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (1888) 49 He first passit dwne to ye law portis of the zeird. 1718 G. Jacob Compl. Sportsman 53 The good Dogs produc'd in a deep Low-Country, will always excel the good Dogs upon the Plains. |
4. Of a liquid: Less in vertical measurement than the average, or than is usual; shallow. Hence of a river, a spring, etc.: Containing or yielding less water than usual. See also
low tide,
low water. (For
low ebb lit. and
fig., see
ebb n.)
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 314/2 Lowe, or ny the drestis, bassus. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 269 The river..when the flood is gone, it is so low, y{supt} it may be passed without all daunger. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 98 He..compares old age to Wine that is lowe and almost nothing but lees. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iv. (1723) 234 The Springs and Rivers are very low. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 236 The ships were in extreme peril: for the river was low. |
II. Transferred and figurative senses.
5. Of humble rank, station, position, or estimation.
Not now (in the positive) said of persons
exc. in contemptuous use (see 7 c); but
cf. lower a.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 35 Ne was þe engel isend ne to none heȝe..men..ac to loȝe and eðeliche men. c 1205 Lay. 686 Nis þar nan swa laih þæt [etc.]. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne (E.E.T.S.) 6560 Ȝyf a cursed man hadde cumpany with one or ouþer, logh or hy. 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 73 Pore ant loȝe thou were for ous. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 119 He hath set al his corage..Upon a Maide of low astat. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 2805 Al such mayntenance..Sustened is naght by persones lowe. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 184 King Eduuardis man he was..Off rycht law byrth. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xx. 18 Hie vertew may stand in law estait. 1531 Latimer Let. to Baynton in Foxe A. & M. (1563) 1324/1 We lowe subiectes are bounde to obey powers and their ordinaunces. 1687 Settle Refl. Dryden 49 The lowest Boy in Westminster would have told him that [to be Borne] was a passive verb. 1718 Freethinker No. 7 ¶8, I shall subjoin a Matrimonial Story in Low-Life. 1770 Gentl. Mag. XL. 426 That the low people never taste flesh is a proof of their extreme poverty. 1810 Bentham Packing (1821) 140 One law for gentlemen, another for low people. 1844 Thirlwall Greece VIII. lxvi. 441 Andriscus, a young man of low birth,..had been..acknowledged as king. 1874 Deutsch Rem. 327 Men low in the social scale. |
| absol. a 1200 Moral Ode 162 Þer sculen eueningges bon þe riche and þe laȝe. c 1275 Lay. 22928 For þar sal þe heȝe be efne to þan lowe. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. (1590) 17 All the people of this countrie from high to lowe, is giuen to these sportes of the witte. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xviii, Look at the high and the low, all the world over, and it's the same story. 1890 Spectator 22 Nov., Having..the benefit of vast experience of the low. |
6. a. Of inferior quality, character, or style; wanting in elevation, commonplace, mean.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 140 Þet so unimete louh þinc..schal drawen into sunne so unimete heih þinc. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. lvi. 133 (ch.-heading) That man must ȝeue him to lowe workes [L. humilibus operibus] whan hye workes failen. 1598 Florio Ep. Ded. 1 My poore studies may in so lowe a cottage entertaine so high..dignities. 1665 G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. India 91 Which low School of Reading and Writing, the said Fathers keep for more convenience of Children. 1725 Pope Postscr. to Odyssey (1840) 389 There is a real beauty in an easy, pure, perspicuous description even of a low action. 1743 Fielding J. Wild ii. vii, They passed an hour in a scene of tenderness, too low and contemptible to be recounted. 1753 Adventurer No. 39 The low drudgery of collating copies,..or accumulating compilations. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xx. IV. 467 Much parliamentary ability of a low kind. 1856 Kingsley Plays & Puritans 31 To discriminate between high art and low art, they must have seen both. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 173 In patients of low type of intelligence. |
b. Of literary style, words, expressions, hence of a writer: The opposite of sublime; undignified.
| 1672 Dryden Def. Epil. Ess. (ed. Ker) I. 172 Never did any author precipitate himself from such height of thought to so low expressions, as he often does. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 347 And ten low words oft creep in one dull line. 1725 ― Postscr. to Odyssey (1840) 389 But whenever the poet is obliged by the nature of his subject to descend to the lower manner of writing, an elevated style would be affected. 1765 in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury I. 130 Superior to Runkenius..whose language is rather low. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Prior, Prior is never low, nor very often sublime. |
c. Of races of mankind: Inferior in degree of civilization, little advanced. Of animals or plants, their type, etc.: Not highly organized.
| 1859 J. R. Greene Protozoa Introd. xviii, The lowest form of animal life with which we are acquainted. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. iv. 79 Languages spoken by very low races. 1881 Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter Air 125 Germs of bacteria and other low organisms. |
7. As a term of reprobation or disgust.
a. In a moral sense: Abject, base, mean.
| 1559 Mirr. Mag., Mowbray's Banishment xvii, Through flattery loe, I dyd his yll vpholde. 1666 Pepys Diary 8 Sept., Much..discourse..of the low spirits of some rich men in the City, in sparing any encouragement to the poor people that wrought for the saving their houses. 1790 H. Walpole in Walpoliana clxiv. 75 Low-cunning, self-interest, and other mean motives. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 401 Flattery or fawning or other low arts. 1895 A. F. Warr in Law Times XCIX. 507/1 Whenever a dramatist wished to introduce intrigue, chicanery, or other dirty work, his dramatis personæ included a low attorney. |
b. Degraded, dissolute.
| 1599 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iv. 431 [Paid] to John Wosley for his horse and dragge to be used for the whippinge of low woomene, 4d. |
c. Wanting in decent breeding; coarse, vulgar; not socially ‘respectable’.
| 1759 Dilworth Pope 18 Notwithstanding Mr. Wycherley's low behaviour to Mr. Pope. 1780 F. Burney Diary May, She has evidently kept low company. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xii, Tilda's friends are low people. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 483 A considerable number of low fanatics..regarded him as a public benefactor. 1861 R. G. Wilberforce Life S. Wilberforce (1882) III. i. 27 They [Irish priests] are generally low fellows—M{supc}Hale is a very coarse low fellow himself. 1872 Punch 6 Jan. 5/1 What is there in common between a respectable shopkeeper who pays rates and a low person who wheels a barrow? 1912 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 533/1 He may feel that he is the superior in every way of some of the ‘low whites’ with whom he comes into daily contact. |
8. a. Wanting in bodily strength or vigour; poorly nourished, weak.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. iii. (1495) 83 Dryenesse makyth the body lene and lowe. 1486 Bk. St. Albans c j, Sum put hawkys in mew at high estate, and sum when thay be right low. 1530 Palsgr. 317/2 Lowe of complexyon, fieble. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 155 They keep them low and down by subtraction of their meat. 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1912/4 A Plain Black Gelding,..low of flesh. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 321 Before his Training, keep him poor and low. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 585 He was so low, that it was not probable he could live many weeks. 1783 H. Watson in Med. Commun. I. 165 She..grew low from loss of appetite. 1802 E. Parsons Myst. Visit II. 62 So low and ill, that she gladly accepted a small cup of usquebaugh. 1887 Poor Nellie (1888) 162 When I had my severe crisis off Vera Cruz, I was frightfully low at the time. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 575 If..the patient is in low condition, an improvement in the diet may be of service. |
b. Emotionally depressed; dejected, dispirited, dull,
esp. in
phr. low spirits.
| 1744 Berkeley Siris §101 Lives which seem hardly worth living for bad appetite, low spirits, restless nights. 1779 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 302, I am low and dejected at times, in a way not to be described. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 49 An undue secretion of melancholia..was supposed..to produce a low or gloomy temperament. 1860 E. Eden Semi-attached Couple II. 121 Lady Eskdale was low, and sent off a groom with a bulletin. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman iii. xii. 170 She's wake and low and nervous, so no kissing. |
c. Of diet, feeding: Affording little nourishment or stimulation; poor.
| a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1897) i. I. 386 These were both..men of great sobriety, and lived on a constant low diet. 1752 Berkeley Th. on Tar-water Wks. III. 503 Such low diet as sour milk and potatoes. 1863 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 111, The general low diet of the slaves. 1886 C. Scott Sheep-Farming 55 Low Feeding of Sheep. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 367 The patient should be put on a low diet. 1899 Ibid. VIII. 214 The percentage of children..who presented low nutrition. |
9. a. Little above the minimum, not high, in amount or degree of intensity. (Often with implied reference to position in a graduated scale.)
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 34 Right now the hyhe wyndes blowe, And anon after thei ben lowe. 1715 Cheyne Philos. Princ. Relig. i. (ed. 2) 321 We see an Image of this slow and low kind of Life in Swallows, Insects, Vipers [etc.]. 1736 Butler Anal. Introd., Such low presumption, often repeated, will amount even to moral certainty. 1742 Lond. & Country Brew. i. (ed. 4) 72 The Grinding also must be considered, according to the high or low Drying of the Malt. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 239 The fever is kept low, and the eruption greatly lessened. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 154 When the flour is too fine, the colour will be low. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 688 Low or slow Nervous Fever. Ibid. III. 48 note, Hence, also, the terms high madness and low madness. 1831 Brewster Optics ix. 83 Muriatic acid has too low a refractive and dispersive power to fit it for [etc.]. 1840 E. Turner's Chem. (ed. 7) II. 447 Heating the mixture to low redness. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxii. 151 Friends who visited me always complained of the low temperature of my room. 1875 Fortnum Majolica xii. 132 Grotesques..in low olive tint on a blue ground. |
b. of price, rate, numbers, amounts, etc.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. i. 13 Nought enters there, Of what validity and pitch so ere, But falles into abatement and low price Euen in a minute. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. iii. 1794 If we can intertaine these schollers at a low rate. 1683 Apol. Prot. France ii. 23 Merchants subsist by their Credit: if their credit be low, they must fall. 1691 Locke Lower. Interest Wks. 1727 II. 72 It [the Exchange] is Low, when he pays less than the Par. 1693 J. Dryden, jun., in Dryden's Juvenal xiv. (1697) 355 So of old Was Blood, and Life, at a low-Market sold. 1831 J. Davies Manual Mat. Med. 227 The low price of lime. 1885 Manch. Exam. 12 Nov. 5/2 Chinese workmen..work for low wages. |
c. Geog. Of latitude: Denoted by a low number; at a short distance from the equator.
| 1748 [see lower 1]. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Low Latitudes, those regions far removed from the poles of the earth towards the equator, 10° south or north of it. |
d. Of things: Having a low value, price, or degree of some quality. (Chiefly with the specific reference expressed or contextually indicated.)
† Of gold: Not reaching a high standard of fineness. Of a card: Of small numerical value.
| 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. i. 8 Sena abounds in Elephants Teeth and low Gold, of 18 or 19 carects Fineness. 1740 Wimble's List of Snuffs in F. W. Fairholt Tobacco (1876) 268–9 English Rappee..Best Dunkerque Rappee..Rappee Bergamot..Low Rappee. 1798 Monthly Mag. VI. 236 Horses still continue low [sc. in price]. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 140 Hence, by the plan of mixture, much low English wools are consumed in our cloth manufacture, that would otherwise find no market at all. 1885 Proctor Whist ii. 33 In general a low card is to be played second hand. 1900 G. Newman Bacteria (ed. 2) 116 ‘Low’ yeasts..sink in the fermenting fluid, act slowly, and only at the low temperature of 4° or 5° C. |
e. Of condition: Not flourishing or advanced.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 319 My Creditors grow cruell, my estate is very low. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 68 During the weak and low Condition of the Eastern Emperors. 1844 T. Wright Anecd. Lit. 23 Of course we ought to make great allowances for the low state of this branch of philology in Tyrwhitt's time. |
10. a. Of or in reference to musical sounds: Produced or characterized by relatively slow vibrations; grave.
| 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 231 Tho..haue the voice atte the begynnynge of the worde grete and lowe. 1530 Palsgr. 845/1 With a low voyse, a basse voyx. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 166 Songs which are made..in the low key. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems iii. 14 Sing sho tua notis, the one is out of tone, As B acre lau and B moll far abone. 1878 in Grove's Dict. Mus. I. 27/1 These [words] are ‘high’ and ‘low’, the former denoting greater, the latter less, rapidity of vibration. |
b. Of the voice, a sound: Not loud.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 314/2 Lowe, or softe yn voyce,..submissus. 1605 Shakes. Lear v. iii. 273 Her voice was euer soft, Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman. 1724 R. Wodrow Life J. Wodrow (1828) 98 His voice was but low and none of the strongest. 1839 Marryat Phant. Ship xxxviii, A low tap at the door was heard. 1852 I. Pfeiffer Journ. Iceland 172 The explosions are always preceded by a low rumbling. 1863 Woolner My beautiful Lady 15 Her warbling voice, though ever low and mild. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid iii. 320 Bending her face to the ground, in a whisper low she replies. |
11. Humble in disposition, lowly, meek. Now
rare.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 36 Nede is next hym..as low as a lombe for lakkyng of that hym nedeth. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 118 Thou most..with low herte humblesce suie. c 1403 Cuckow & Night. 3 The god of love..can make of lowe hertes hye, And of hye lowe. 1426 in Surtees Misc. (1888) 5 Þe law submission of þe said John Lyllyng. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (1888) 30 God hes al tyme hwyd the richt visdome..and schawis it to thayme that ar simpil and law. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 38 In the meane tyme held thame selffis lewche and quyit. 1836 Mrs. Browning Poet's Vow ii. viii, I thought..The teachings of the heaven and earth Did keep us soft and low. |
12. a. (With allusion to sense 4.) Of one's pockets, stock of money or any commodity: Nearly empty or exhausted. Hence of persons,
to be low in pocket, etc.
| 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 94, I thought it high time..to recruit my Pockets, which were now very low. 1821 Scott Pirate xxxiv, We have junketed till provisions are low with us. Ibid. xxxi, My own [money] was waxing low. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman 40 And you talk of being low in your pocket. |
b. low on: deficient in, short of.
colloq.| 1966 Listener 23 June 926/2 Low on credibility however was They Were So Few. 1969 Ibid. 22 May 732/2 Her difficulty is that she is incapable of fulfilling herself, partly because she seems to be low on energy. 1974 J. Wainwright Evidence I shall Give xxxv. 200 He brewed instant coffee. He was low on sugar. |
13. Of an opinion, estimate: Attributing small value or poor quality; depreciatory, disparaging.
| a 1903 Mod. I have a very low opinion of his abilities. |
14. Of a date: Relatively recent. Chiefly in
compar. and superl.| a 1903 Mod. The date assigned by this critic to Ecclesiastes seems to be too low. |
15. Said of religious doctrine, as the opposite of
high in various applications (see
high a. 15); often
colloq. = Low Church.
| 1854 S. Wilberforce Let. in Life (1881) II. vi. 234 The Church of England will seem to be committed to Low doctrine, which she does not teach, as to this sacrament. 1881 Trollope Dr. Wortle's School i. i, Among them [Low Church prelates] there was none more low, more pious, more sincere. |
III. In complemental use with verbs both
trans. and intr. where the complement frequently indicates the result of the action.
16. to bring low: to bring into a low condition, with respect to health, strength, wealth or outward circumstances; also, to bring to the ground.
Cf. low-brought in 23 below.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 277 His son Occe..was byseged at York, and [i]-brouȝte lowe [L. humiliato]. 1530 Palsgr. 468/1 For all his great bely, this syckenesse hath brought hym lowe ynoughe. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. ii. 7 The Lorde..bryngeth lowe and exalteth. 1611 Bible Job xl. 12 Looke on euery one that is proud, and bring him low. 1655 Stanley Hist. Philos. i. (1701) 16/1 His Father..brought his Estate so low, as to want even necessaries. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 360 The nobles of Savoy have long since been brought low. 1819 Shelley Julian & Maddalo 601 Perhaps remorse had brought her low. |
| absol. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. ii. iii 129 At one quick blow Shoot, and bring low! |
17. to lay low:
a. To lay flat; to bring to the ground, to overthrow in fight, to stretch lifeless.
b. To lay in the ground, to bury.
c. in immaterial sense or
fig.: To abase, humble.
| a. c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's T. 118 She shal be cleped his wenche, or his lemman. And..Men leyn that oon as lowe as lith þat oother. c 1470 Golagros & Gaw. 726 Schir Edmond loissit has his life, and laid is full law. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. xxii, For I wene thys day to laye the as lowe as thou laydest me. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 137 The dire event..Hath..all this mighty Host In horrible destruction laid thus low. 1740 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Lady Pomfret 25 Nov., I bought a chaise at Rome..; and had the pleasure of being laid low in it the very second day after I set out. 1791 Burns Lament for Earl Glencairn ix, O! had I met the mortal shaft Which laid my benefactor low! 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 111 Whenever morality hitches the toe, Delinquent with crab-stick shou'd straight be laid low. |
| b. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 862 When it es in erth layd lawe, Wormes þan sal it al to-gnaw. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 164, I would that I were low laid in my graue. 1795 Jemima II. 187 Little did his now laid low Lordship think his days were so closely numbered. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad xxiv, Use me ere they lay me low Where a man's no use at all. |
| c. a 1225 Juliana 62 Ant þeo þet heieð ham her leist ham swiðe lahe. a 1425 Cursor M. 1649 (Trin.), I shal hem laye ful lawe þat sett so litil of myn awe. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lx. vi, [God] shall lay our haters low. 1611 Bible Isa. xiii. 11, I..will lay low the hautinesse of the terrible. |
18. to lie low:
a. literally. To lie in a low position or on a low level, deep down; also, to crouch.
b. To lie on or in the ground, lie prostrate or dead;
fig. to be humbled, abased. Of an erection: To be overthrown or broken down, to lie in fragments.
c. Mod. slang. To keep quiet, remain in hiding; to bide one's time.
| a. c 1250 Death 166 in O.E. Misc. 178 Þu schald nu in eorþe liggen ful lohe [Jes. Coll. MS. lowe]. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus i. 56 Behind the Bus (Lord) bot I liggit law. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 76 To ly rycht law in till ane Crib. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 40 Beside a bubling fountaine low she lay. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. iii. (1712) 49 Whether it might not have laid so low in the Earth as never to have been reached. 1674 J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 171 It lyeth low, by reason whereof it is much indammaged by flouds. |
| b. a 1300 Cursor M. 1649, I sal do þam lij ful lau þat letes sua lightly on min au. 1307 Elegy Edw. I ii, Of wham that song is that y synge, Of Edward kyng that lith so lowe. Ibid. iv, Aȝeyn the hethene for te fyhte, To wynne the croiz that lowe lys. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xiv. (Lucas) 80 Þe angel his trumpe sal blav, & ger þame ryse þat lyis law. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. ii. (Skeat) l. 58 His auter is broke, and lowe lyth. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 10 That Lucifers lordshup ligge sholde ful lowe. c 1400 Cato's Morals 171 in Cursor M. App. iv, Loke þou lere sum craft, quen þi hap turnis baft, and logh þou lise. 1513 Douglas æneis x. x. 18 Lo now he liggis law, for al his feris. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 297 The castell als thai gart it lig full law. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 52 If he could but rite himselfe with quarrelling, Some of vs would lie low. a 1822 Shelley Marg. Nicholson Fragment 12 Monarch thou For whose support this fainting frame lies low. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxviii. 22 All our house lies low mournfully buried in you. 1879 J. D. Long æneid ii. 730 Priam by the sword Lies low. |
| c. 1880 J. C. Harris Uncle Remus ii. (1881) 20 De Tar-Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low. 1892 Pall Mall G. 11 Mar. 3/1 Mr. N―..has not really been dead at all, but only ‘lying low’ in Canada. 1894 Marg. Verney Mem. Verney Fam. III. 475 Royalists who had lain low were showing signs of life. 1901 Scotsman 2 Mar. 9/4 To that end the opposition lay low. |
19. With certain other verbs, the meaning of which includes the notion ‘to make’ or ‘to become’;
to burn low (see
burn v. 2 c);
† to go low, (
a) to become worsted; (
b) to become exhausted;
to run low (see
run).
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 23 Þe Kyng herd þat telle, þat his side ȝede lowe. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 61 Pouerte pursued me and put me lowe. 1555 Bradforth in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xlv. 131 Other men in Ingland whose stoutnes must be plucked lowe. 1583 T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iii. 117 b, Their victuals went very low. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 621 Should I chance on some distant journey to be reduced low in pocket. |
IV. In Combination.
20. In concord with
ns. forming combinations used attributively or quasi-adj., as
low-altitude,
low-angle,
low-blast,
low-budget,
low-calorie,
low-carbon,
low-caste,
low-class,
low-consumption,
low-contrast,
low-cost,
low-density,
low-drag,
low-energy,
low-fat,
low-field,
low-flash,
low-flux,
low-ground,
low-heel,
low-impedance,
low-income,
low-intensity,
low-neck,
low-noise,
low-power,
low-pressure,
low-price,
low-rank,
low-rental,
low-risk,
low-status,
low-sulphur,
low-temperature,
low-tension,
low-tread,
low-type,
low-value,
low-velocity,
low-voltage,
low-wage,
low-warp,
low-wattage,
low-wing.
| 1925 R. W. G. Kingston in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest 1924 286 *Low-altitude deserts. 1966 Electronics 3 Oct. 181 Dornier System GmbH last year made a successful low-altitude recovery with a paraglider that unfolds its wings for descent. 1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face iii. 34 He [sc. Kelvin Kent] had also organized our low-altitude porters, whose job it was to carry all the gear up to Base Camp. |
| 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) p. xliii/4 *Low angle planes. 1956 Nature 17 Mar. 500/1 Low-angle X-ray patterns from two durains of different rank. 1966 Electronics 14 Nov. 48 An antenna lacking the low-angle coverage..would not be able to communicate with the satellite unless the plane flew farther south. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Low-blast Furnace, a metallurgic furnace in which the air of the blast is delivered at moderate pressure. |
| 1958 R. Sill in Film Daily Yearbk. Motion Pict. 985/1, 20th Century Fox..proclaimed that it has budgeted $65,000,000 for the production of 65 features this year, including 25 from..Regal Films, which specialize in *low-budget films. 1961 B. Paulu Brit. Broadcasting in Transition vii. 129 Audiences seem to show no more enthusiasm for high-cost television than low-budget radio music. 1973 E. Bullins Theme is Blackness 129 Short, low-budget films that could be distributed nationally. |
| 1969 Lancet 8 Dec. 1190/2 On *low-calorie high-fat diets, fat and thin subjects developed the same levels of ketones in the blood. 1970 Sunday Times 26 Apr. 28/2 Jars of low-calorie instant soup. |
| 1900 Engineering Mag. XIX. 751/2 Copper and *low-carbon ingot steel. |
| 1894 Pop. Sci. Monthly XLIV. 500 The *low-caste Hindus. |
| 1898 Daily News 11 Nov. 5/1 All such *low-class methods. |
| 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 61/1 The north-east, a *low-consumption area. 1975 Times 11 Mar. (Italian Industry Suppl.) p. v/1 Petrol has never been cheap in Italy, so low consumption motors were developed there. |
| 1966 D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. i. 14 The curves for a ‘soft’, *low-contrast, fast emulsion and a ‘hard’, high-contrast, slow emulsion are shown. |
| 1934 H. L. Ickes Diary 10 Mar. (1953) I. 152 Obviously it wasn't a model of *low-cost housing for people on the very lowest rung of the economic order. 1960 Times 21 Nov. (Canada Suppl.) p. xiii/7 Efficient and low-cost producers. 1969 New Statesman 11 Apr. 506/1 There is no cheaper way of running a radio station than sitting a low-cost young man in a studio to talk about his breakfast and his fan mail. |
| 1960 New Left Rev. May–June 70/2 *Low density, two-storey three-bedroom housing. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iii. 58 Since it [sc. the Moon] is a low-density world, there is little likelihood of extensive concentrations of metallic iron and nickel. 1964 Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. CXV. 569 The resulting digital data, when stored on low-density (200 characters per inch) digital tape, would fill 84 digital tapes. |
| 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xi. 428 An aerodynamic shroud..provides a *low-drag housing for the entire vehicle. 1971 Flying Apr. 2/1 A low-drag high-speed wing. |
| 1942 J. D. Stranathan ‘Particles’ of Mod. Physics xiii. 535 The mean free path may be longer, and the mean life correspondingly longer, for high energy mesotrons than it is for *low energy mesotrons. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 149/2 A low-energy ration contained 750 cal per lb. |
| 1960 Times 20 Sept. (Pure Food Suppl.) p. iii, None of the *low-fat girls had better skins than at the start of the experiment. 1972 J. Ball Five Pieces Jade xii. 150 He poured some cornflakes into a bowl, covered them with..low-fat milk. |
| 1962 Corson & Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields iii. 91 All that varies from one O{nfacu} to another is the fact that sometimes the point lies in a high-field region, within a molecule, for example, and other times it lies in a *low-field region. |
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 25 July 2/3 *Low-flash oils, imported chiefly from America. |
| 1956 Nature 4 Feb. 205/2 The rent of experimental facilities in [the nuclear reactor] DIDO may vary from {pstlg}100 a day down to {pstlg}10 a day for those in less-attractive *low-flux positions. |
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 1 Sept. 1/3 The high and *low ground game fauna of the country. |
| 1712 Steele Spect. No. 526 ¶6 Such as appear discreet by a *low-heel shoe. |
| 1962 Simpson & Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors ii. 26 The device thus passes most of the emitter current from a *low-impedance generator to a high-impedance load. |
| 1952 M. Laski Village xvi. 219 Roy Wilson may start in a *low-income group, but if he can make a success, well, he's worth more than people who can't. 1971 Guardian 7 July 24/4 Up to 60,000 children in low income families have lost their right to free school meals. |
| 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World xiii. 109 *Low-intensity copulations can be seen early in the season. 1964 P. Delattre in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 51 Very low-intensity vowel. 1971 D. E. Westlake I gave at the Office (1972) 14 Marijuana was legal in the United States until 1935, and it was just a sort of low-intensity fact in American culture. |
| 1901 Lady's Realm X. 646/2 With the coat and skirt the *low-neck blouse is wofully out of place. |
| 1961 Times 5 Apr. 6/4 Special ‘maser’ *low-noise amplifiers will be used in the reception of the very weak signals from the satellites. |
| 1878 Abney Photogr. (1881) 306 The student is recommended to commence with a comparatively *low-power objective. |
| 1833 N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. i. 97 The high-pressure or condensed steam..expands..until it becomes *low-pressure steam. 1873 B. Stewart Conserv. Energy iv. 108 Let us take, for example, the low-pressure engine. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 564 Those exceptional cases of Bright's disease, in which a low-pressure pulse is found. |
| 1851 in O. Hudson Martin Tupper (1949) x. 121 Shepherd's mammoth *low price clothing emporium, Chesnut street above Third. 1944 A. G. Hatcher in Mod. Lang. Notes LIX. 516, I have seen..low-price shoes. 1968 D. E. Allen Brit. Tastes viii. 204 Low-price catering. |
| 1956 Nature 17 Mar. 501/1 The decreased intensity of the diffuse scattering [of X-rays] at very low angles for the *low-rank coals. 1965 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1057/3 Artistic low-rental areas. |
| 1951 S. A. Stouffer in Parsons & Shils Toward Gen. Theory Action iv. v. 492 *Low-risk and high-risk situations. |
| 1956 J. Klein Study of Groups vii. 102 One thus obtains four types of sub-groups: high-status mobile, and non-mobile; *low-status mobile, and non-mobile. 1974 J. Burnett Useful Toil i. 31 Farm labouring gradually sank during the course of the [nineteenth] century into a low-status occupation. |
| 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. xviii. 322/1 The coal is a *low-sulphur lignite of lower grade than the lignites of Benhar and Mataura. |
| 1909 Installation News III. 133/2 The *low-temperature system of healing by means of convectors. 1957 R. Hoggart Auden iii. 32 He seems to be aiming not at a widely-acceptable demotic speech but at a low-temperature verse of intelligent observation and comment. |
| 1898 Ibid. V. 983 Not infrequently..the *low-tension pulse presents marked fluctuation of the base line. 1948 Penguin New Writing XXXV. 93 Poetry of a kind which is at present particularly in need of rescue from oblivion: what may be called low-tension poetry. 1957 Railway Mag. Mar. 159/2 A cubicle containing the majority of the low-tension control equipment is housed in a van compartment in the motor coach. |
| 1885 Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 71 An easy *low-tread staircase. |
| 1897 W. C. Hazlitt Ourselves 122 It is natural that this *low-type Realism should be ruled by circumstances. |
| 1962 A. Battersby Guide to Stock Control viii. 76 At the other end of the scale, spare parts should be in the *low-value, long-residence class. |
| 1956 Nature 21 Jan. 120/2 In areas where deep weathering or drift presents difficult *low-velocity-layer correction problems, the reflexion times down to a known shallow marker-bed will give the necessary corrections for the deeper horizons. 1975 N. Luard Robespierre Serial vi. 45 A low-velocity hand⁓gun. |
| 1922 Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 748/1 On *low-voltage alternating-current systems these [switches] consist of movable blades bridging two contacts. 1971 L. Payne Even my Foot's Asleep i. 7 The soft glow of a low-voltage lamp. |
| 1920 Act 10 Geo. V c. 10 §1, Part of the contributions payable in respect of *low-wage earners. 1971 Times 19 Mar. 6 There had been a suggestion that steel might be imported from low-wage producers like Japan. |
| 1899 Mackail Life Morris II. 46 The *low-warp loom he dismissed, as useless for his purpose. |
| 1962 A. Wise Death's Head xi. 131 A few *low-wattage wall lights. 1971 W. Hanley Blue Dreams xix. 314 Erotic light..suffused the rooms, cast by the low-wattage red light bulbs. |
| [1923 Flight XV. 122/2 The choice of *low wing position has doubtless been made mainly on account of a desire to keep the wing in one piece.] 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 16 May 15 This is a conventional two-seater low-wing monoplane. 1950 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) I. 30 Low-wing monoplane, a monoplane in which the main planes are located at or near the bottom of the fuselage. |
21. Parasynthetic derivatives in
-ed2, unlimited in number, as
low-arched,
low-backed,
low-bodied,
low-boughed,
low-bowed,
low-ceiled,
low-ceilinged,
low-conceited,
low-conditioned,
low-crowned,
low-eaved,
low-filleted,
low-flighted,
low-fortuned,
low-heeled,
low-levelled,
low-masted,
low-minded (hence
low-mindedness),
low-panelled,
low-powered,
low-priced,
low-purposed,
low-quartered,
low-rented,
low-rimmed,
low-roofed,
low-sided,
low-sized,
low-statured,
low-studded,
low-thoughted,
low-toned,
low-tongued,
† low-vanitied,
low-vaulted,
low-voiced,
low-waisted,
low-wheeled,
low-withered,
low-witted;
low-blooded, of low blood, race, or descent;
low-necked, (of a dress) cut low in the neck or bosom.
| 1821 J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Lady G. Baillie i. 7 By *low-arched door. |
| 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1656/4 A Sorrel Mare, about 13 hands high,..a little *low Back'd. 1827 Lady Morgan O'Briens & O'Flahertys IV. 60 A low-backed car is the common vehicle used for the purposes of husbandry. |
| 1839 Times 19 Mar., It failed, as *low-blooded knavery always does. 1892 E. Reeves Homeward Bound 28 The passing of weak, low-blooded paupers by careless selectors. |
| 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts., Prov. & Guitar ii, Léon looked at her, in her *low-bodied maroon dress. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 54 The peacock..dropping it [his tail] gracefully from some *low-boughed tree. |
| 1898 R. Kipling in Morning Post 5 Nov. 5/3 The *low-bowed battleships slugged their bluff noses into the surge. |
| 1904 W. de la Mare Henry Brocken 106 The room in which we sat was *low-ceiled and cheerful. |
| 1864 Hawthorne S. Felton (1883) 266 The *low-ceilinged eastern room where he studied. |
| 1648 Bp. Hall Select Th. §10 Humble and *low-conceited of rich endowments. |
| 1632 Massinger Maid of Hon. v. ii, Of..an abject temper,..poore and *low condition'd. |
| 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood v. 72 A little *low cround Hatte he alwayes weares. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 141 His..low-crowned oil-skin hat, and leather gaiters. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 20 May 5/3 *Low-eaved houses, cobbled streets, and quiet squares. |
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2271/4 Stolen or strayed.., a Chesnut Gelding.., *low-Fillited. |
| 1592 Nashe Strange Newes F 3, The Portugals and Frenchmens feare will lend your Honors richer ornaments, than his *low-flighted affection (fortunes summer folower) can frame them. |
| 1627–47 Feltham Resolves 430 The *low-fortuned ploughman. |
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2295/4 A Roan Gelding.., about 14 hands, all his paces, *low-heel'd before. |
| 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. xxvii, The *low-levell'd sunbeams. |
| 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), *Low-masted, a Ship is said to be low-masted, or under-masted, when her Mast is too small, or too short. |
| 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 188 Giddy fashion and *low-minded pride. |
| 1829 Southey Sir T. More (1831) II. 48 Not so much from the *low-mindedness of individuals, as from the circumstances wherein they are placed. |
| 1901 Westm. Gaz. 30 July 6/3 A *low-necked wedding gown. |
| 1902 Blackw. Mag. May 653/2 Entering under a *low-panelled door, we found ourselves in a long and wide bar. |
| 1903 Daily Chron. 3 Aug. 3/7 A motor-car, however *low-powered or slow it may be. 1953 R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 211 Put a frame round the amorphous semi-transparent mass of low-powered energy that seemed himself. 1972 ‘G. North’ Sgt. Cluff rings True xv. 114 The glow from a low-powered bulb in a standard lamp. |
| 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 171 He..falling into some *low-prized rogueries afterwards,..was..transported. 1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 199 The German cloths are not so well manufactured as ours, particularly the low-priced cloth. 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 5/1 This is one of the best made low priced suitings that we ever received. 1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 22/2 Headphones specially low priced at 24/- per pair. |
| 1729 Savage Wanderer v. 298 The *low-purpos'd, loud, polemic Fray. |
| 1860 Reade Cloister & H. III. 59 They [shoes] were *low-quartered and square-toed. |
| 1802 Trans. Soc. Arts XX. 348 To live in *low-rented houses. |
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handie-Crafts 90 The *low-rooft broken wals (In stead of Arras) hang with Spiders' cauls. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 272 Philosophy..From Heaven descended to the low-roofed house Of Socrates. |
| 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-Fowl Shooting 78 A small, *low-sided boat..might be..dangerous on large waters. |
| 1882 Nodal & Milner Gloss. Lancs. Dial. 186 *Low-sized, little, short of stature. 1907 Joyce Let. 1 Mar. (1966) II. 218 They were low-sized and quince-coloured. 1938 S. Beckett Murphy 97 A low-sized corpulent middle-aged woman. |
| 1635 R. Johnson Hist. Tom a Lincoln (1828) 100 A very *low-statured dwarf. |
| 1854 B. P. Shillaber Life & Sayings Mrs. Partington 16 A tall man could not stand erect in the *low-studded room. 1884 Low-studded [see studded ppl. a. 6]. 1934 E. Wharton Backward Glance x. 251 It was a tiny garden patch, and a few steps brought us to the door of a low-studded cottage in a gap of the hanging woods. |
| 1634 Milton Comus 6 With *low-thoughted care Confin'd. |
| 1847 Tennyson Princess vii. 208 So she *low-toned; while with shut eyes I lay Listening; then look'd. 1871 G. Meredith H. Richmond li, Your dear mother had a low-toned nervous system. 1909 R. Fry Let. 15 Jan. (1972) I. 310 The Fur Jacket..is..exceedingly low-toned. 1941 B.B.C. Gloss. Broadcasting Terms 18 Low-toned, manifesting a form of frequency distortion in which the lower audio-frequencies are accentuated. 1969 Word XXV. 155 Possessive prefixes are usually low-toned. |
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. iii. 15 Didst heare her speake? Is she shrill tongu'd or *low? 1830 Tennyson Adeline 51 Doth the low-tongued Orient Wander from the side of the morn. |
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) IV. 86 Your foolish, your *low-vanity'd Lovelace. |
| 1869 J. R. Lowell Foot-Path in Under Willows 225 Those angel stairways in my brain, That climb from these *low-vaulted days To spacious sunshines far from pain. |
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. iii. 16 Madam, I heard her speake, she is *low voic'd. 1895 A. W. Pinero Second Mrs. Tanqueray ii. 63 She is a low-voiced, grave girl. 1953 ‘N. Blake’ Dreadful Hollow 148 He stared up at her, and caught Charles's low-voiced words. |
| 1923 A. Huxley Antic Hay ix. 124 *Low-waisted summer frocks. 1966 Guardian 27 July 6/4 A long, lean, low-waisted jumper top. 1974 Country Life 24 Oct. 1242/3 The long, low-waisted black jersey evening dress. |
| 1842 Tennyson Talking Oak 110 Sitting straight Within the *low-wheel'd chaise. |
| 1884 St. Stephen's Rev. 28 June 14/2 Saddles..suited to the *low-withered Arab horses. |
22. In combination with
pres. and
pa. pples., forming
ppl. adjs., corresponding to the
vbl. phrases in senses 16–19, as
low-burning,
low-laid,
low-lying,
low-made.
| 1904 E. Rickert Reaper 8 His mother sat by the *low-burning peat. 1974 E. Hardwick Seduction & Betrayal 131 Miss Kilman..is hanging on..to a low-burning encounter with religion. |
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. iv. 103 Be content, Your *low-laide Sonne, our Godhead will vplift. 1811 Shelley Tear iv. 7 Sure man..May weep in mute grief o'er thy low-laid shrine. |
| 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 611 A mild, soft day, with *low-lying clouds. |
| 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. viii. (1593) 202 And ducking downe their heads, within the *low-made wicket came. |
23. Special combinations and collocations:
low-alloy a. Metallurgy, containing a small proportion of alloying elements;
low bailiff (see
quot.);
low boat U.S. Sport, that which secures the smallest quantity of fish or game (
Cent. Dict.);
† low-brought ppl. a., reduced to distress, weakness, or subjection (see sense 16);
low-bush N. Amer., used
attrib. to designate low-growing plants or their fruit,
esp. low-bush blackberry, one of several species of
Rubus;
low-bush blueberry, a variety of
Vaccinium angustifolium;
low-bush cranberry, in Canada,
Viburnum edule;
low celebration Eccl. (see
quot.);
† low-cheered a., mild-faced, having a meek look;
low comedian, an actor of low comedy;
low comedy, (
a) comedy in which the subject and treatment border upon farce; (
b)
Theatr. slang = low comedian; also
attrib.;
† low-day, any day that is not a Sunday or feast-day;
low definition: see
definition 5 c;
Low Dutch a. and n. (see
Dutch A. 1, B. 1 and 3); hence
Low-Dutchman (
cf. Dutch 3 b);
† Low Easterday = Low Sunday;
low embroidery,
fermentation (see
quots.);
low-fidelity a., characterized by an absence of ‘high fidelity’ (see
high fidelity);
low gear: see
gear n. 7 b;
Low German a. and n. (
cf. German A. 1 b, B. 1 b, 2 b);
low grade Philol. [
grade n. 9 a], a reduced form, generally represented by [ə], in an ablaut series;
low grinding = low-milling;
low-key Photogr. (see
quot. 1959); also
attrib. and
fig.,
esp. muted, restrained, of modest ambition; so
low-keyed a. (in
fig. senses);
Low Latin a. and n. [
= F.
bas-latin], late Latin or mediæval Latin; hence
Low-Latinist, a scholar in Low Latin;
low-loader, a lorry with a low deck (
usu. without sides) to facilitate loading of heavy loads,
esp. other vehicles;
low-loss a. Electr., characterized by or causing little dissipation of electric or electromagnetic energy;
low maple U.S., the mountain maple,
Acer spicatum;
low mass (see
mass);
low-milling (see
milling vbl. n.);
low-molecular a. Chem., having a low molecular weight;
low-neck, a low-necked dress;
† low-pad cant = footpad;
† low-parted a., of no great parts or abilities;
† Low parties pl., the Netherlands;
low-pass a., denoting a filter that attenuates components with a frequency greater than some cut-off frequency and passes components of lower frequency;
low profile, (
a)
attrib. of a motor-vehicle tyre, having a relatively great width in proportion to its height; (
b) (of or pertaining to) a low-keyed and unobtrusive policy, restrained or inconspicuous behaviour, etc.;
low quarters [
quarter n. 20 c]
pl. U.S. (see
quots. 1916, 1971); also
low-quarter attrib.;
low-residue a., (of a meal or diet) designed to give rise to relatively little fæces and urine;
low-rise a., of a building: low, of one storey or few storeys; also
transf.; as
n., a low building;
low-rope = slack-rope;
low-sail (
Naut.)
= easy sail (
cf. easy a. 5);
low tea U.S., a plain tea;
† low Toby (see
quot.);
Low Week, the week following Easter week;
† low-wood = copsewood 2;
low-worm (see
quot.);
low-yield a., producing little, giving a low return;
spec. applied to a nuclear weapon having a relatively low explosive force.
| 1931 Iron Age CXXVIII. 1142/1 The *low alloy steels were described [by H. J. French] as those containing usually no more than 6 or 7 per cent of the alloying metal. 1956 W. D. Hargreaves in D. L. Linton Sheffield 287 Rotherham produces about a million tons per year of carbon and low alloy steel. 1972 Jrnl. Austral. Inst. Metals XVII. 175/1 Where additional durability is required, a widely employed technique is to use a low-alloy ‘marine grade’ of steel. |
| 1835 1st Munic. Corp. Comm. Rep. App. iii. 1601 [Lancaster.] The Bailiff of the Commons, sometimes called the *Low Bailiff, is elected at an annual meeting of the free burgesses from among the commons. |
| 1459 Paston Lett. No. 331 I. 444 He..is ryte *lowe browt, and sore weykid and feblyd. 1545 Primer Hen. VIII DD iv, Beholde, how I am lowe brought from the cruel pursuers. 1596 Spenser State Irel. (Globe ed.) 614/2 How comes it then to pass, that having once beene soe lowe brought, and throughly subjected, they afterwardes lifted themselves soe strongly agayne? |
| 1833 C. P. Traill Let. 18 Apr. in Backwoods of Canada (1836) 144 The *low-bush cranberries are brought in great quantities by the Indians to the towns and villages. 1857 A. Gray First Less. Bot. & Vegetable Physiol. 122 R[ubus] trivialis, Michx. (Low Bush-Blackberry). 1891 J. M. Coulter Bot. W. Texas I. 104 Low bush blackberry. A southern blackberry, apparently common in eastern, southern, and western Texas. 1958 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. 26 July 39/6 For the most part, housewives pick high and low bush blueberries..and in the fall, low bush cranberries. 1962 M. W. Murie Two in Far North i. i. 15 And sometimes had time to pick a handful of bright red low-bush cranberries. 1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 91 The harvesting of lowbush blueberries..begins in Maine in late July and August. |
| 1867 Walker Ritual Reason Why 79 *Low celebration is the administration of the Holy Communion without the adjuncts of assistant ministers and choir. |
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 258 Grace gaue Piers a teme, foure gret oxen: Þat on was Luke, a large beste and a *lowe-chered. |
| 1749 W. R. Chetwood Hist. Stage 82 note, A well-esteem'd *low Comedian. 1890 Barrie My Lady Nicotine xiii. (1901) 43/1 This is the low comedian Kempe. |
| 1608 Day Humour out of breath i. B 4 b, Attendance sirra, your *low Commedie, Craues but few Actors, weele breake company. 1671 Dryden Evening's Love Pref. Ess. (ed. Ker) I. 135 Low comedy especially requires, on the writer's part, much of conversation with the vulgar, and much of ill nature in the observation of their follies. c 1750 T. Aston Suppl. to Cibber 12 There being no Rivals in his dry, heavy, downright Way in Low Comedy. 1849 Theatrical Mirror 17 Sept. 19 Whether in consequence of the non-arrival of the second low-comedy man, I would undertake his part in the last piece. 1885 J. K. Jerome On the Stage 39 Our low comedy, who knew the whole piece by heart. 1886 in J. R. Ware Passing Eng. (1909) 171/2 The success of Indiana mainly depends upon the extravagant humours of the chief low-comedy merchant. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry' Ands xviii. 239 Feathers had some reputation as a yarn spinner. His low-comedy style was popular. 1961 John o' London's 6 July 8/2 She lacks the low-comedy sense which Kingsley Amis shows in his poetry. |
| c 1613 T. Campion To Henry, Ld. Clifford Wks. (1889) 64 The vulgar *low-days undistinguished, Are left for labour, games, and sportful sights. |
| 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse 23 b, The Germaines and *lowe Dutch..should bee continually kept moyst with the foggie aire and stinking mistes that arise out of their fennie soyle. 1764 Harmer Observ. Pref. 8 Egmont's and Heyman's Travels..translated from the Low Dutch. |
| 1576 Newton Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 63 The Netherlanders, and *low Dutchmen bordering upon the Sea. |
| 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 271 The second..on Ester Monday..the third on *Lowe Esterday. |
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlewk., *Low Embroidery. This term includes all the needlework formed with Satin or other fancy stitches upon solid foundations, whether worked upon both sides alike, or slightly raised (not padded) by run lines from the foundation. |
| 1881 Tyndall Floating Matter Air 257 This beer is prepared by what is called the process of *low fermentation; the name being given partly because the yeast..falls to the bottom of the cask; but partly also because it is produced at a low temperature. |
| 1947 Amer. Speech XXII. 132 The relatively *low-fidelity aluminum disks might not always record it clearly enough to interfere with established habits of transcription. 1962 Simpson & Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors xviii. 451 For low-fidelity communication links using portable equipment a narrow-band FM system..may be used. 1963 T. Pynchon V v. 113 Each anchor man had a walkie-talkie, tied in on a common network to Zeitsuss's office and a low-fidelity 15-inch speaker mounted on the ceiling. |
| 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 287 The champion of the modern views,—a *low German, Erasmus of Rotterdam. 1887 [see German A. 1 b]. |
| 1901 Jrnl. Gmc. Philol. III. 265 Skr. i: Gr. α |
| 1884 Bath Herald 27 Dec. 6/4 [Flour Mill.] The system in vogue up to a dozen years ago was *low grinding. |
| 1895 Leeds Mercury Suppl. 5 Jan. (E.D.D.), Sarah wor in a varry *low key. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 19 Jan. 14/2 There is not the slightest reason why we should not exploit this low-key type of picture. 1953 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing i. 65 The elegant low-key lighting (which is utterly unrealistic). 1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinematogr. 108/1 Low-key, the term applied when a majority of the tones in the subject or image lie at the dark end of the grey scale. 1965 Listener 2 Dec. 934/3 Pleasant, low-key entertainment. 1972 Guardian 11 July 12/2 With the UDA building its barricades, how long can the ‘low key’ phase last. |
| 1960 R. Davies Voice from Attic 19 Nothing could be farther from my intention, and I know that many readers are happiest with a *low-keyed and antitheatrical approach to their pleasure. 1969 Daily Tel. 11 Feb. 16/1 A fairly low-keyed inquiry. 1973 Publishers Weekly 30 May 40/3 A girl spending the winter recovering from a long illness, and her pet hamster are the elements in this low-keyed fantasy. |
| 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 159 The Hanseatic league derives its name from the *Low Latin ‘hansa’. |
| 1927 Times (Weekly ed.) 3 Nov. 495/4 Two open coaches mounted on six-cylindered *low-loader commercial chassis. 1960 Guardian 23 Nov. 11/4 Efforts were still being made to tow the low loader out of the hedge. 1973 J. Leasor Host of Extras i. 23, I may have to carry them [sc. old cars] round the country on a low loader to show them to someone who can't come to London. |
| 1928 Times 23 Mar. 20/1 The effect of connecting up a valve amplifier with a highly efficient tuned circuit employing a coil of the *low-loss type. 1946 Nature 9 Nov. 671/1 The oxides in powder form were mixed in various proportions with a low-loss, non-magnetic binder, paraffin wax. 1962 Corson & Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields xii. 418 This type of wave guide is found in almost all types of electronic equipment for use both at low and at high frequencies. The medium of propagation is a low-loss dielectric. |
| 1813 H. Muhlenberg Catal. Plant. 95 Mountain maple or *low maple. 1832 D. J. Browne Sylva Amer. 102 It is sometimes called Low Maple, from the dwarfish stature of the tree. 1897 G. B. Sudworth Nomencl. Arborescent Flora U.S. 282 Acer spicatum. Mountain Maple... Low Maple (Tenn.). |
| 1946 Nature 28 Dec. 925/1 Crystallization phenomena in rubbers show certain similarities to, but also striking differences from, crystallization in ordinary *low-molecular systems. |
| 1866 Howells Venet. Life xx. 329 Ladies planted in formal rows of *low-necks and white dresses. 1909 Englishwoman Apr. 319 Magazines with ‘types of beauty’—in tights, ballet dancers' skirts or low-necks. 1922 Low-neck [see bathing-suit (bathing vbl. n. 2)]. |
| 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 65 The Ruffler is metamorphosed into a *Low-Pad. |
| 1662 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 18. ix. §2. 577 The heart [may be] sound and sincere, where the head is *low-parted. |
| 1502–9 Henry VII in J. Gairdner Lett. Rich. III & Hen. VII 449 He [would shew] unto us mervelous conclusions touching the rule and [governance] of these *Lowe parties. |
| 1929 J. H. Morecroft Elem. Radio Communication vii. 250 A simple calculation, say, of the *low-pass type, will show the reason for the particular performance of filters. 1950 Engineering 17 Feb. 186/3 The model..consists essentially of a headpiece made up of successive layers of flexible material, felt and iron arranged so as to constitute a low-pass acoustic filter. Such a filter does not cause appreciable attenuation of the low and voice frequencies, but cuts out those frequencies which give rise to harmful shrillness. 1964 Language XL. 203 ‘Content-free speech’ has also come to refer to doctored recorded corpora of speech which have been run through low-pass filters, so that features conveying affective qualities are retained while linguistic intelligibility is suppressed. |
| 1967 Guardian 25 Sept. 3/8 A production Aston Martin..with..*low profile tyres. 1970 Ibid. 24 Aug. 3/2 The Nixon doctrine of ‘low profile’ involvement, in other words a maximum of aid and a minimum of US troops. 1971 Publishers' Weekly 6 Dec. 19/2 Los Angeles..more than lives up to its reputation as a low-profile, seemingly endless sprawl with no center. 1972 Times 2 Aug. 14/5 Whittaker Hunt has been adopting an altogether lower profile. 1973 Listener 4 Jan. 7/3, I admire the brisk creativeness of American English. ‘Low profile’ is a perfectly vivid phrase for ‘conciliatory demeanour’. |
| 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 275 He wore very *low-quarter patent-leather shoes. 1916 Dialect Notes IV. 269 Low-quarters, Oxford shoes. ‘He wears low quarters all the year round.’ [New Orleans; Also N. Car.] 1971 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) VI. 7 Low quarters, army dress shoes. |
| 1962 A. Shepard in Into Orbit 98, I had a *low residue breakfast of orange juice, a filet mignon wrapped in bacon, and some scrambled eggs. 1971 New Scientist 11 Mar. 551/2 Waste can be minimised by the careful planning of low-residue diets..but it will always present a problem [in space flight]. |
| 1957 Fortune Sept. 213/2 What kind of people..prefer ‘high-rise’ apartment buildings, what kind of people prefer two-to-five-storey ‘*low-rise’ houses? 1967 London (Ontario) Free Press 23 June 38/4 Hip Briefs for today's low-rise trousers. 1971 Rand Daily Mail (Home Owner) 27 Mar. 7/4 High rise for young couples or old folk, low-rise for couples with older children. 1972 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 17 June 47/2 The finished units..were stacked 3-high..to form low-rise garden units. |
| 1697 Dryden Ded. to æneis in Ess. (1900) II. 201 This is like Merry Andrew on the *low rope. |
| 1805 in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. 134 note, Saw the Enemy to leeward under *low-sail on the larboard tack. |
| 1883 Howells Woman's Reason II. xviii. 133 The world..sent her invitations to little luncheons and *low teas. |
| 1825 Knapp & Baldw. Newgate Cal. III. 438/1 A *low Toby, meaning it was a footpad robbery. |
| 1884 Catholic Dict. 604 From Holy Saturday till Saturday in *Low Week. |
| 1684 Scanderbeg Rediv. v. 115 In the midst of the Copse or *Low-wood. |
| 1704 Dict. Rust., *Low-worm is a Disease in Horses, hardly known from the Anthony-Fire or the Shingles..'tis a Worm that is bread on the back of a Horse..or runs along the Neck to the Brain. |
| 1957 Wall St. Jrnl. 25 Jan. 1/3 Only *low-yield nuclear tests will be conducted at the Frenchman's Flat Proving Ground... The announcement added high-yield devices (hydrogen bombs) are never tested in Nevada. 1959 Times 20 Oct. 19/3 Substantial two-way business in industrial shares partly reflected switching out of low-yield shares into higher yielding second rankers. 1972 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 6 May 31/2 Localized Soviet attacks would be countered..by the Pentomic army equipped with a variety of sophisticated, low-yield nuclear weapons. |
B. quasi-n. and n. I. The neuter
adj. used absol. 1. What is low, a low place, position, or area.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 79 Adam ure forme feder þet alihte from hehe in to lahe. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lviii. 10 Þou takis me vp fra my laghe in til þi heghe. c 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 518 Schir Ameryis rout he saw, That held the playn ay & the law. 1484 Caxton Fables of Auian xxvi, To thende he falleth not from hyhe to lowe. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxviii. 1 Musical harmony..being but of high and low in sounds a due proportionable disposition. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 5120, I..Face Low and Wrong and Weak and all the rest. |
† 2. With preps.
at, in, on low: down low, on the ground, below, on earth
= alow 1.
Obs.| a 1300 Cursor M. 11260 On hei be ioi, and pes on lagh. 13.. S. Erkenwolde 147 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 269 Such a lyche here is, Has layne lokene here one loghe, how longe is vnknawene. 1340 Ayenb. 119 Þanne ine ous beginneþ þise graces..ine loȝ and sseweþ an heȝ. a 1400–50 Alexander 3261 Now in leuell, nowe on-loft, nowe in law vnder. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xiv. 570 And truly, syrs, looke that ye trow That othere lord is none at-lowe. |
II. As
n. 3. (with
a and
pl.)
a. A piece of low-lying land.
spec. in E. Anglia, a hollow or valley between dunes; a pool left by the tide in such a hollow.
| 1790 Trans. Soc. Arts VIII. 92 This Low, as it is called, traversing the best part of our saltings. 1855 Trans. Philol. Soc. 33 [Norfolk words.] Low, a loch left by the tide on the shore. 1878 Pop. Sci. Monthly July 310 These high and low areas, or ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ as they are technically known, travel. 1878 Miller & Skertchly Fenland ix. 291 The Tides..having a larger and deeper channel run with greater velocity into Lynn Deeps, and set westward through the lows in the sands into Boston Deeps, the Tide being about 20 minutes later there than in Lynn Deeps. 1929 Jrnl. Ecol. XVII. 138 Very characteristic of the Blakeney dunes are the ‘lows’—narrow valleys between the dune-ridges, corresponding to the ‘slacks’ of the west-coast dunes. The lows differ from slacks in not being permanently moist..and in being liable to flooding by unusually high tides. 1964 V. J. Chapman Coastal Vegetation vi. 156 After flooding by the tide, water may remain in the low for some time. 1970 G. E. Evans Where Beards wag All xxi. 240 These men lived in these huts which they'd placed down there in the Low. |
b. An area of low barometric pressure. Also, an area of low gravitational field strength.
| 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. 166/2 Gravity maps display highs and lows. 1972 Nature 3 Mar. 24/1 The main feature of the present map..is the large gravity ‘low’ in the Moray Firth. |
c. A low point or minimum in price, temperature, numbers, or the like.
Cf. all-time adj. (
all E. 13).
| 1911 N.Y. Times 20 Sept., Calumet and Hecla opened 17 points off at 373, which is 47 points above the established low of 1897. 1929 Observer 17 Nov. 3/4 The sharp rally..called the weighted average of eight leading industrial stocks up to 149·0 from the new low of 133·0. 1933 A. R. Longworth Crowded Hours viii. 133 In 1906 the finances of the Longworths, though they were on the way, had not reached their present ‘low’. 1934 Wodehouse Thank You, Jeeves xiv. 203 But the heart was still sinking. And when I hear him snort emotionally in the darkness it touched a new low. 1953 ― Performing Flea 193 The population of Dormitory 309 fluctuated between a high of 68 and a low of 57. 1955 Ann. Reg. 1954 82 The death rate fell to a new low of 8·7 per thousand. 1964 Financial Times 3 Mar. 2/6 A new low for many years was reached in stocks of refined tin in London Metal Exchange official warehouses last week. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 1/6 The predicted high for Elliot Lake today is 5 below; the low tonight 20 below. 1971 Sci. Amer. Sept. 107/2 The interior temperature of the house sometimes reached 80 degrees, and the nightly lows were seldom below 70. 1973 Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. CXXII. 186 Scores could range from a high of 64..to a low of 1. |
4. In
All-fours: The deuce of trumps, or the lowest trump dealt. (Earlier books have ‘highest, lowest’, etc.)
| 1818 Todd s.v. All-fours, The all-four are high, low, Jack, and the game. 1830 [see game n. 8 f]. 1897 in Webster. |
5. = low gear (see
gear n. 7 b).
| 1934 in Webster. 1968 C. Nicole Self Lovers ii. 30 He descended the hill from his house in low, partly to minimise the potholes..and partly to enjoy the view. 1970 T. Hillerman Blessing Way xiii. 119 Put it in low and angle to the left. 1973 ‘A. Hall’ Tango Briefing viii. 96, I dragged the manual into low to kill the rest of the speed. |
Add:
[A.] [II.] [9.] f. Of (a source of) light or radiant heat: not bright or intense; weak, dim, reduced (
orig. with the implication of small physical extent, as of a flame, candle, wick, etc., which has burned down or been turned down (
cf. sense 1 above). Also
fig. Sometimes
quasi-adv.: see sense *19 below.
| 1811 Shelley St. Irvyne i. 17 'Twas dead of the night, when I sat in my dwelling; One glimmering lamp was expiring and low. 1882 M. Arnold Poor Matthias in Poetical Wks. (1950) 454 As age comes on, I know, Poet's fire gets faint and low. 1919 E. O'Neill In Zone in Moon of Caribbees 85 A lantern in the middle of the floor, turned down very low, throws a dim light. 1932 W. Faulkner Light in August v. 108 Four people sat about a card table, the white faces intent and sharp in the low light. 1963 Times 25 Feb. (Canada Suppl.) p. xv/1 Eskimo children..huddled inside their sealskin parkhas and warmed by the low flame of a blubber lantern. 1990 D. M. Thomas Lying Together i. 17 Victor concentrated; asked for the lamp to be turned down low. |
[III.] [19.] (Further examples.)
| 1827 T. Wilson Pitman's Pay ii. iii, The unsnuff'd lights are now burnt low. 1871 B. Taylor tr. Goethe Faust (1875) II. v. iv. 356 The fire sinks down and flickers low. 1915 St. Nicholas June 689/1 They continued to crawl slowly up, their candles flickering low in the impoverished air of the long-inclosed place. 1943 V. Nabokov in Atlantic Jan. 70/1 The lamp burned low, and strange objects glimmered upon the writing desk. 1991 I. Gower Shoemaker's Daughter (1992) vi. 87 The fire was burning low in the grate and the kettle was cold on the hob. |
[IV.] [23.] low-end a. Comm., of, pertaining to, or associated with the cheaper end (
end n. 5 d) of the market for a particular product or service.
| 1961 Webster, *Low-end. 1977 New Yorker 6 June 96/3 It stands to reason that ‘high end’ means expensive,..but why does ‘promotional’, as well as ‘low end’ mean cheap? 1986 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 21 Oct. 26/6 Very high quality, high-cost systems and low-end limited function systems using personal computers and based on a page-by-page approach. 1992 N. Stephenson Snow Crash i. 8 Art the Barber..runs the second-largest chain of low-end haircutting establishments in the world. |
▸
low post n. Basketball an offensive position near the baseline on either side of the free-throw lane; the area on the court broadly corresponding to this position;
cf. post n.1 9.
| 1955 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 21 Dec. 27/4 The *low post plays under the basket and the high post is at the free throw line. 1972 D. Wolf Foul! xxiii. 312 Philadelphia assigned Matt Guokas..to set up in front of him in the corner and low post. 1996 Sports Illustr. 18 Mar. 36/3 All-Star center Patrick Ewing, the Knicks' main low-post threat, wondered aloud why Nelson positioned him so far from the basket. |
▪ VIII. low, adv. (
ləʊ)
Forms: 3
lah(e, 3–5
laȝ(e,
loȝ(e, 3–6
lowe, (4
louwe), 4–5
lau, 4–6
Sc. and
north. law(e, 4–
low. Also
laigh.
[ME. laȝe, lahe, loȝe, f. the adj.] 1. a. In a low position; on or under the ground; little above the ground or some base.
to carry low (see
carry 32, 32 c).
† to dance low: to dance lifting the feet but little from the ground.
Cf. low a. 18; the
adv. and the complementary
adj. are often difficult to distinguish.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 130 Fleoð heie, & holdeð þauh þet heaued euer lowe. c 1230 Hali Meid. 5 Þeos..wuneð lahe on eorðe. c 1250 Lutel Soth Serm. 37 in O.E. Misc. 188 Loȝe heo holdet hore galun. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 50/131 Him þouȝte it was wel vuele i-do þat he lai so lowe þere, Þat he nere i-bured in herre stude. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3062 When þe ryche man, þat in helle sat lawe, Lazar in Abraham bosom sawe. 1423 Jas. I. Kingis Q. ciii, Law in the gardyn, ryght tofore myn eye. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) II. 288 Tha..Passit ouir Esk richt lauch ouir Sulwa sand. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 233 b, The towne standeth lowe, and the Ryver passeth thorough. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Liberty, Care must be taken not to make the liberty too high, lest it..make the horse carry low. 1782 Ann. Reg. ii. 12 note, Persons of all ranks here [in Naples] dance very low. a 1800 Cowper Needless Alarm 25 The spotted pack, With tails high mounted, ears hung low. |
b. fig. Humbly; in a low condition or rank; on poor diet; at a low rate.
† to breed (a person) low: to educate in an inferior way (
cf. low-bred).
to play low: to play for stakes of small amount.
| c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 95 For in her sight to her he bare him lowe. a 1400–50 Alexander 1012 Lord, with ȝoure leue we lawe ȝow be-sechis. 1530 Palsgr. 449/2, I beare lowe, I behave my selfe humbly, je me humilie. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. vi. 20 That I may conquer Fortunes spight, By liuing low, where Fortune cannot hurt me [etc.]. 1673 Ess. Educ. Gentlewom. 3 The Barbarous custom to breed Women low, is grown general amongst us. 1758 Chesterfield Let. to Son 5 Sept. (1892) III. 1234 Live cool for a time, and rather low. 1832 Ld. Houghton in T. W. Reid Life I. 122 The doctor here tells me that I..must live very low while I remain in Rome. 1900 Longm. Mag. Dec. 98 You value yourself too low. |
2. a. To a low point, position, or posture; also, along a low course, in a low direction.
| a 1225 St. Marher. 14 Þe engles..þe seoð ham lihten swa lah of so swiðe heh. c 1275 Passion Our Lord 8 in O.E. Misc. 37 He þet is and euer wes in heuene myd his fadere Ful lowe he alyhte. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 798 Loȝe he loutez hem to Loth to þe grounde. a 1400–50 Alexander 2289 ‘Mi louely lorde’, quod þe lede & law him declines. 1530 Palsgr. 739/2 Stryke lowe, stryke, lachez jusques a terre. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 143 Oh sir, I did not looke so low. 1602 Dekker Satiro-mastix Epilogus M 2 b, You my little Swaggerers that fight lowe: my tough hearts of Oake that stand too't so valliantly. 1611 Bible Deut. xxviii. 43 Thou shalt come downe very low. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 81 With what compulsion and laborious flight We sunk thus low? 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 383 We ought..to..bream as low as we could to destroy the worm. 1842 Macaulay Lake Regillus, So answered those strange horsemen, And each couched low his spear. 1850–6 O. W. Holmes Disappointed Statesm. 60 Party fights are won by aiming low. 1871 ‘M. Legrand’ Cambr. Freshm. 129 The Captain was ‘a fellow who smokes his cigars very low’. |
b. fig. and in figurative contexts.
clean and low (see
clean adv. 6).
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 15 b, Anone they depresse hym as lowe in mysery & wretchednes. 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 21 When I see the sonne of the great Cecile let downe his spirits so low as to mine. 1781 Cowper Expostul. 547 Verse cannot stoop so low as thy desert. 1805 Morn. Chron. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1806) IX. 284 He never descended so low as to steal pint pots and door⁓scrapers. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 208 Had the royal power ever fallen as low in England as it fell in Germany and Italy. |
3. With reference to the voice, the wind, etc.: In a low tone, gently, softly. Also of singing, etc.: At a low pitch, on low notes. (
Cf. low a. 10.)
| c 1300 Havelok 2079 Speke y loude, or spek y lowe, þou shalt ful wel heren me. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 717 Summe highe and summe eek lowe songe. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 77 Thogh thei [wyndes] beginne lowe, At ende thei be noght menable. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 42 O stay and heare, your true loues coming, That can sing both high and low. 1662–3 Pepys Diary 1 Mar., He read his sermon..so brokenly and low, that nobody could hear at any distance. 1713 Addison Cato v. iv. 59 Lucia, speak low, he is retired to rest. 1776 Trial of Nundocomar 76/2 You say, the writer read the bond low: was it so low that you could not hear what was said? 1818 Shelley Rosalind & Helen 244 Low muttering o'er his loathed name. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxiv, Now, Wulf, speak low. 1856 A. Marsh Evelyn Marston I. i. 9 The wind howls low and mournfully around the chimneys. Mod. I can't sing so low as that. |
4. With reference to time: Far down, or to a point far down; late.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. Introd. (1736) 2 As low as the Reign of Julian we find, that [etc.]. 1710 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 45 The II{supd}. vol. of his Church History of Britain..is to come as low as King Charles II{supd}. 1732 in Wesley's Jrnl. (1830) I. 390 Easter fell low that year. 1734 Swift Reasons agst. Bill Tithe Flax & Hemp Wks. 1745 VIII. 101 The Clergy had the sole right of taxing themselves..as low as the restoration. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840) II. 108 This alliterative measure..remained in use so low as the sixteenth century. 1845 Stephen Comm. Laws Eng. (1874) I. 64 These reached as low as the time of Pope Alexander the third. |
5. Comb. a. Forming with
ppl. adjs. used
attrib. numerous quasi-compounds, usually hyphened; as
low-bellowing,
low-bended,
low-bowed,
low-built,
low-cut,
low-flying,
low-growing,
low-hung,
low-paid (also
absol.),
low-ranking,
low-rated,
low-slung,
low-trained (also as
pa. pple.),
low-yielding, etc. Also
† low-cast, (of a valley) deep;
low-ebbed,
lit. of waves, having ebbed to a low point;
† fig. of persons, ‘at a low ebb’, impoverished;
low-flung a. U.S. colloq., of low character or standing.
| 1727–46 Thomson Summer 505 A hollow moan..*low-bellowing round the hills. |
| 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. ii. iii. 27 The crowching Client, with *low-bended knee..Tels on his tale. |
| 1633 Ford Broken H. iii. v, With *low-bent thoughts Accusing such presumption. 1726–46 Thomson Winter 77 The low-bent clouds Pour flood on flood. |
| 1872 A. de Vere Leg. St. Patrick, Arraignm. St. P., Ceasing, he stood *Low-bowed, with hands upon his bosom crossed. |
| 1592 Nashe Summers Last Will (1600) I j b, This *lowe built house, will bring vs to our ends. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2625/4 Also a low-built Watch with a String, the Box Gilt. 1697 Creech tr. Manilius iv. 33 But hotter Climates narrower Frames obtain, And low-built Bodies are the growth of Spain. 1843 James Forest Days (1847) 60 It was, in fact, a large, though low-built house. |
| 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. v, A *low-cast valley. |
| 1613 R. Zouche Dove B, The *low-coucht Seas. 1757 Dyer Fleece iv. 591 Proud Buenos Aires, low-couched Paraguay. |
| 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 180 Like a black mist *low creeping. 1818 Keats Endym. i. 257 Low-creeping strawberries. |
| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 43 *Low-crooked-curtsies, and base Spaniell fawning. |
| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 203/3 Men's *low cut canvas pumps. 1932 ‘E. M. Delafield’ Thank Heaven Fasting ii. iii. 44 Lady Marlowe, superb..in her low-cut green satin, with an emerald tiara. 1962 P. Gregory Like Tigress at Bay iv. 40 Steve was forced to admit to himself that she presented a beautiful picture, sitting there in the spotlight in her low-cut, strapless gown. |
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1705 May my pure mind with the fowle act dispence, My *low declined honor to aduance? |
| 1625 Milton Death Fair Infant 32 Hid from the world in a *low delved tomb. |
| 1728–46 Thomson Spring 720 Her pinions..*low-drooping, scarce Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade. |
| 1735 Somerville Chase i. 251 Strait Hams..And his *low-dropping Chest confess his Speed. |
| 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. ii. 119 Why, this same boy's..A *low-eb'd gallant. 1820 Keats Hyperion ii. 136 When the waves Low-ebb'd still hid it up in shallow gloom. |
| 1830 Tennyson Poems 99 Keen knowledges of *low-embowèd eld. |
| 1633 Ford Love's Sacr. v. iii, Let thy smooth, *Low-fawning parasites renowne thy Act. |
| 1830 Tennyson Mermaid 32, I would fling on each side my *low-flowing locks. |
| 1843 Missouri Reporter (St. Louis) 11 Apr. (Th.), Here we have a beautiful specimen of the dishonesty and *low-flung slang of the clique. 1844 Knickerbocker XXIII. 506 Who wants a parcel of low-flung ‘outside barbarians’ to go in cahoot with us? 1853 J. G. Baldwin Flush Times Alabama 24 He..denounced Jefferson as a low-flung demagogue. 1861 Oregon Argus 28 Dec. (Th.), It would be impossible to attempt a controversy with such low-flung dogs. |
| 1963 Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Feb. 95/2 The *low-flying beginning of this book is much better than its high-flying philosophic end. |
| 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 612 A breathless burthen of *low-folded heavens. |
| 1883 Harper's Mag. Oct. 726/2 He is *low-going, and a wide-goer behind. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 326 Masses of *low-growing plants. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 26 May 11/3 The topmost bough of some low-growing tree or shrub. 1958 W. J. Stokoe Caterpillars Brit. Moths (new ed.) I. 299 Greater plantain (Plantago major) and other low-growing plants. |
| 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. II. xxx. 246 The *low-hanging clouds. |
| 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 863 Like a *low-hung cloud. 1902 Q. Rev. Oct. 484 The low-hung narrow-windowed mansion in Butcher Row. 1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 104 The low-hung lamps stretched down the road..as I hastened to meet The low-hung light of her eyes. 1924 E. Sitwell Sleeping Beauty xvi. 54 It seemed a low-hung country of the blind. |
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 265 To *lowe-lybbyng men the larke is resembled. |
| 1964 W. L. Goodman Hist. Woodworking Tools 138 Comparatively *low-paid labourers. 1974 Times 5 Dec. 4/4 The TUC had..recognized the low-paid as a special case. |
| 1672 Dryden Maiden Queen v. i, You teach me to repent my *low-placed love. |
| 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 43 The *low-prized learning of the magicians answered very well. |
| 1958 W. J. H. Sprott Human Groups ix. 152 The less popular members of the consistently *low-ranking teams did not change their allegiance. |
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. Prol. 19 The..ouer-lustie French Doe the *low-rated English play at dice. |
| 1895 Thomson & Thomas Electr. Tab. & Mem. 15 A *low-reading voltmeter. |
| 1826 Milman A. Boleyn 162 Ha! thou *low-rolling doubling drum—I hear thee! |
| 1634 Milton Comus 315 Ere morrow wake, or the *low roosted lark From her thatch't pallat rowse. |
| a 1613 Overbury Charact., Taylor Wks. (1856) 78 He..raiseth the *low set roofe of his crosse-legged fortune. |
| 1931 Morning Post 21 Aug. 11/7 His *low-slung car simply hurtled down the straight and was lost to view. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ii. 31 A very full, low-slung muskmelon moon. 1973 ‘R. MacLeod’ Nest of Vultures ii. 30 Sleek Ferraris, opulent Rolls-Royces and an occasional low-slung Lamborghini. |
| 1854 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. x, Some trivial, *low-spoken remark. |
| 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 99 Slow Nile with *low-sunke streames shall keepe his braies. 1691 Norris Pract. Disc. 13 This low-sunk, wretched and deplorable Degeneracy of Soul. |
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. iii. 507 Slender tributes *low-tax'd Nature pays For mighty gain. |
| 1820 Shelley Vision Sea 12 The *low-trailing rack of the tempest. |
| 1869 Rep. Comm. Agric. 1868 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 249 *Low-trained hedges may be necessary where land is limited in area, and high in price. Ibid., Evergreens or shrubs may be formed, trimmed, and low-trained a long time without pleaching. |
| 1946 Nature 23 Nov. 762/2 The replacement of existing virus-infected, *low-yielding clonal stocks of raspberries is a pressing necessity. 1968 Economist 2 Mar. 61/2 Town and City has always been a favourite low-yielding property share. |
b. With agent-nouns or nouns of action, as
low-flyer,
low-flying (so
low-fly vb.),
low-living,
low-loading,
† low-lying,
† low-riding.
| 1881 O. Wilde Poems 69 Young Mercury *Low-flying to the dusky ford of Dis. 1949 Happy Landings July 8/1 One pilot, low flying over the Continent, had his aircraft blown-up. 1958 G. Dutton in B. James Austral. Short Stories (1963) 288 He low-flies through the unforeseeable complications of tree and rock. |
| 1708 S. Centlivre Busie Body i. i. 14 For then we are all thought to be..High-Flyers, or *Low-Flyers, or Levellers. |
| 1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) II. 78 The pilot who is recklessly daring..in properly authorised *low-flying practices. 1945 Ibid. V. 33 There is..a fascination about low-flying. |
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 386 The claims made for their several methods by those who have enjoined high-living, *low-living, ‘vegetarianism’. |
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 512/2 *Low-loading amplifier, a more recent name for a loaded push-pull amplifier. 1962 Times 8 May 16/5 The luggage boot, with its flat, low-loading floor. |
| 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. lxii, The *low-lying of the Head-springs of..this River. |
| 1599 Jas. I βασιλ. Δωρον iii. 121 Use..*lowe-ryding for handling of your sworde. |
c. In comb. with another
adv., as
low-deep.
| 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars i. xcvii, Pry Into the lowe-deepe⁓buried sinnes long past. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 25 He..will not deny you grace, But low-deep bury faults, so ye repent. |
▸
low-hanging fruit n. fig. the most readily accomplished of a set of tasks, measures, or goals;
cf. cherry-picking n. 2.
| 1990 N.Y. Times 16 Aug. d1/3 We've picked all the *low-hanging fruit when it comes to fuel efficiency. 1995 Acad. Managem. Rev. 20 993 In the early stages of pollution prevention, there is a great deal of ‘low-hanging fruit’—easy and inexpensive behavioral and material changes that result in large emission reductions relative to costs. 2003 New Scientist 11 Jan. 48/1 It is simply more difficult to produce new drugs. All the low-hanging fruit has been picked and a treatment found for many of the simple illnesses. |
▪ IX. low, v.1 Obs. exc. dial. (
ləʊ)
Forms: 3
Orm. laȝhenn, 3–6
lowen, 4
loȝen,
-ȝy, 4–6
Sc. and
north. law(e(n, (5
lou,
louȝe,
lowyn), 5–
low.
pa. pple. 3
i-lahet, 4
y-loȝed,
lawene.
[f. low a.] 1. trans. To make or bring low (chiefly in immaterial sense); to abase, humble, lower.
| c 1200 Ormin 13965 Whi wollde Godess Sune Crist..himm sellfenn laȝhenn. Ibid. 18257 Forrþi þeȝȝ wolldenn niþþrenn Crist & laȝhenn himm þe mare. c 1230 Hali Meid. 28 Ha neren nawt ihurt, þah ha weren ilahet. c 1315 Shoreham Poems iv. 154 Þench þou nart bote esche, And so þou loȝe þe. 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 658 Quhen the Kyng Eduardis mycht Wes lawit, Kyng Robert lap on hicht. 1382 Wyclif Phil. ii. 7 He lowyde him silf, takynge the foorme of a seruant. a 1400–50 Alexander 3293 Þat he þat lawene has a lede may lyft, if him thinke. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 245 The sonne louyth hym fro oure regioun. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. iv. 302 He schulde louȝe him silf in inward feeling of herte. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) xxi, The grit cameill..I can him law als litill als ane mous. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) i. xv. 47/2 The prayer of hym that loweth hym in his prayer thyrleth the clowdes. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xi. (1539) 26 High no man for no hate, and lowe no man for noo loue. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (1888) 91 He lawit hime selff and twik apone hime ye schaip of man. a 1555 Lyndesay Tragedy 140 Who dois exault hymself God sall hym law. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 190 The Ignorant peple sa lawit bene and febill, That thay wat nocht quhome to wyte. 1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. 101 [God] in his Word, is pleas'd to low himself to our capacities. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 219 The merry fowks that were the ben, By this time 'gan to low their strain. |
b. intr. for refl.| 13.. K. Alis. 5746 The sonne loweth and west helt. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 295 Now it [Fortune] hiheth, now it loweth. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 120 Euery hylle Shalle lowe, valeys For to Fylle. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. 55 Now thow promittis,..now lowis, now defyis. |
2. a. trans. To diminish, lessen; to lessen the value of (a coin); to depreciate.
b. refl. To depreciate (oneself); to run down.
c. intr. for refl. Of a fault: To be extenuated.
| 1340 Ayenb. 28 Þet guode los to abatye and hyre guodes to loȝy. Ibid. 49 Þis zenne an-heȝeþ and loȝeþ be þe stat of þe persones þet hit doþ. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints l. (Katerine) 167 Catone forbad his sowne..To law hyme-self or lof gretely. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 493 He areryd & lowyd y⊇ coynes & moneys of his lande. 1793 T. Scott Three Auld Men, Poems 338 To lawe their price they will be sorry, Ae single doit. |
3. trans. To lower, to hold or put in a lower position; to lower the level of (ground).
| c 1450 Merlin 397 Than he lowed his spere. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 39 To lowe y⊇ grownd that the dore may be of a resonnable heyghte. 1654 A. Gray Serm. on Death (1755) 151 The other graces must low the sail to faith. |
▪ X. low, v.2 Obs. exc. dial. (
ləʊ)
Also 5
lowyn,
law, 9
lowe.
[a. ON. loga, f. loge low n.2 Cf. MHG. lohen.] intr. To flame, blaze, glow;
fig. to glow, be ‘on fire’ with passion, etc. Also with
up.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 236 Grener..Þen grene aumayl on golde lowande bryȝter. a 1400–50 Alexander 226 Þe lede lawid in hire lofe as leme dose of gledis. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 1436 Arcangelus of rede golde..Lowynge ful lyȝth. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 315/1 Lowyn, or flamyn as fyyr, flammo. 1697 W. Cleland Poems 34 When stocks that are half rotten lowes, They burn best. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 25 Dryest wood will eithest low. a 1758 ― Mill i, A' lowing with love, my fancy did rove. a 1810 Tannahill When John & me were married Poems (1846) 116 And love will lowe in cottage low, As weel's in lofty ha'. 1827 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 278 North. Look at your right hand... Shepherd. Its a' lowin. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. I. 197 Each individual brick shone and ‘lowed’ with the intense heat. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 362 It lowed up in my mind that this was the girl's father. 1894 Crockett Raiders (ed. 3) 66 Transferring the flame when it lowed up to the bowl of his..pipe. |
▪ XI. † low, v.3 Obs. Forms: 4
lu,
loouwe, 4–5
lowe, 6–7
low, 7–
'low.
[Partly a. OF. louer, loer (mod. F. louer):—L. laudāre; partly aphetic f. allow v. Some of the forms coincide with northern spellings of love v.2, which has some of the senses of this v., and may sometimes have been confused with it. For the
mod. vulgarism
'low for
allow, see
allow v.]
1. trans. = allow v. in various senses.
| 13.. Cursor M. 20034 (Edin.) Þu mi wille me al wil lu [other texts alou]. 1382 Wyclif Wisd. iii. 6 As brent sacrifise of ost he loouwede them [Vulg. accepit eos]. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4532 A foolis word is nought to trowe, Ne worth an appel for to lowe. c 1440 Gesta Rom. liv. 187 (Harl. MS.) The knyȝt hadde noon Excusacion, ne wolde not lowe himselfe. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 139 He lowde him scope, without suspect of ill. 1609 Daniel Civ. Wars viii. lxvi, Least they [her looks] should 'low More then her heart might meane. 1881 J. C. Harris Nights with Uncle Remus (1884) xvi. 81 Brer Fox 'low dat he know dat ar place same ez he do he own tater-patch. 1911 G. S. Porter Harvester xvi. 367 She 'lowed to make him a big man. 1938 [see jes, jes']. 1948 G. V. Galwey Lift & Drop iv. 65 Wind's backed four points... We've got to 'low for it. |
2. intr. To bid a price. (
Cf. love v.
2)
| 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. i. 9 note, Tenants striuing in lowing and bidding, inhanceth fines and rents. |
▪ XII. low, v.4 (
ləʊ)
Forms: 1
hlówan, 3
lhouen, 4
lo(o)wen,
louwen, 5
lawe,
loe,
lowyn, 6
lo(o)we, 7
lough,
lowgh, 4–
low.
[A Com. Teut. reduplicating str. vb. (preserved as such only in OE.; elsewhere conjugated weak); OE. hlówan, pa. tense hléow = ODu. (OLFrankish) hluoien (MDu. loeyen, Du. loeien), OHG. hluojen (MHG. lüejen), ? ON. hlóa (once, with sense ‘to roar’); f. Teut. root *hlô-:—W. Aryan *klā-; cf. L. clāmāre to shout, Gr. κικλήσκειν to call.] 1. intr. Of cattle: To utter their characteristic sound (in recent use apprehended as denoting a more subdued sound than
bellow); to moo.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxii. (Z.) 129 Bos mugit, oxa hlewð. c 1240 Anc. Songs (Ritson) 4 Awe bleteþ after lomb lhouþ after calue cu. 13.. Poem times Edw. II 183 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 332 Hit nis noht al for the calf that kow louweth. 1382 Wyclif Job vi. 5 Whethir..an oxe shul loowen, whan befor the fulle cracche he shal stonde? a 1400–50 Alexander 4744 Vmquile he noys..as a nox quen he lawes. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 27 Oon of the calfes of golde that Iheroboam made loede scharpely in the natiuite of Heliseus. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Job vi. 5 Doeth the wilde asse braye when he hathe grasse? or loweth the oxe when he hathe foddre? 1611 Bible Ibid. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 84 Should I heare..a Cat lowgh like an Oxe,..it would scare mee. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 118 The sober herd that lowed to meet their young. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude 208 The heifer lows, uneasy at the voice Of a new master. 1820 Shelley Hymn to Mercury xix. 7 Hermes dragged forth two heifers, lowing loud. 1897 tr. Nansen's Farthest North II. ix. 452 We..could hear them [walruses]..lowing like cows. |
2. transf. To make a loud noise, to bellow, howl. Of a cavern: To reverberate with a noise.
| a 1000 Elene 54 (Gr.) Hleowon hornboran, hreopan friccan. 1382 Wyclif Jer. li. 52 In al his lond loowen shal the woundid. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. x. 36 How cavernis or furnys of Ethna round Rummist and lowit. a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal 22 No she-priest here lows in a horn. |
3. trans. To utter in a voice like that of cattle; to bellow
forth.
| a 1547 Surrey æneid ii. 281 Like to the sound the roring bull fourth loowes. 1633 J. Fisher Fuimus Troes iv. i. G j b, Which Caucasus may as a Catch repeate, And Taurus lough the same. 1644 Sir E. Dering Prop. Sacr. ciii, Others do lough forth the tenour. 1871 G. Meredith H. Richmond xxxviii, ‘Oh I thank you!’ I heard the garlanded victim lowing. 1876 ‘Annie Thomas’ Blotted out iii. 27, I shudder under the conviction that she is going to low reproof at me, and so she does. |
▪ XIII. low obs. pa. tense of
laugh v.