▪ I. ˈbowing, n. Sc.
[app. f. bow n.4]
A stock farm with the stock on it.
| 1808–79 Jamieson Dict. s.v., To tak a farm in a bowin, to take a lease of a farm in grass, with the life stock on it; this still remaining the property of the landholder, or person who lets it. Ayrs. 1863 Glasgow Her. 11 Sept., To let near Balloch, a Bowing of 20 Cows. |
▪ II. bowing, vbl. n.1
(ˈbaʊɪŋ)
[f. bow v.1 + -ing1.]
1. a. Bending, curving, twisting; flexure, inclination.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xvi. (1495) 776 The cokatryce pressith not his bodi wyth moche bowynge. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 28 Without bowyng of your legges. 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. def. viii. 3 A plaine angle is an inclination or bowing of two lines, the one to the other. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry ii. iv. 44 A Bunched Line is carried with round reflections or bowings vp and downe. |
† b. Inflexion (of the voice). Obs.
| 1561 Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. xx. 435 The Reader should sound his words with so small a bowing of his voice, that it should be liker to one that readeth than to one that singeth. |
† 2. concr. A curved or bent part; a bending, bend, or flexure; a joint. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 26 Amoste at euery bonys ende is a grystell: that lyeth betwene the bowynge lyke a mattresse. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1339/2 On the outside of the bowing of the arch were painted three goddesses. 1681 Willis' Rem. Med. Wks., It descends to the bowing of the Elbow. 1864 E. Capern Devon Prov., Bewings, joints. |
3. The action of inclining the body or head in salutation, etc.; the making of an obeisance; also attrib., as in bowing acquaintance.
| 1616 Purchas Pilgr. (1864) 22 After often bowings, and touching the ground with his head. 1660 Milton Free Commw. 429 The perpetual bowings and cringings of an abject People. 1807 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life II. xviii. 164 A horse with an unceasing trick of nodding..his head up and down, as if he had a bowing acquaintance with every thing he meets. 1862 Cornh. Mag. VI. 852 One makes a sort of pleasant bowing acquaintance with the several women. 1876 Green Sh. Hist. 497 The bowings at the sacred name. |
▪ III. bowing, vbl. n.2
(ˈbəʊɪŋ)
[f. bow v.2 + -ing1.]
1. a. The playing of (a violin, etc.) with a bow; the method or style of handling the bow. b. ‘The particular manner in which a phrase or passage is to be executed, and the signs by which such a manner is usually marked.’ Grove. (Cf. fingering.)
| 1838 W. Gardiner Music Nat. 121 Modern writers accurately mark the bowing of every passage. 1865 tr. Spohr's Autobiog. I. 14 My bowing particularly displeased him. 1881 Broadhouse Mus. Acoust. 160 Stringed instruments are made to sound either by striking, plucking, or bowing. |
2. Hat-making. The process of distributing the fibres for felting by means of the ‘bow’.
| 1842 Whittock Bk. Trades 293 (Hatter), Each article undergoes a process..termed ‘bowing’. |
▪ IV. bowing, ppl. a.
(ˈbaʊɪŋ)
[f. bow v.1 + -ing2.]
1. That bends or inclines; inclined, bent (obs.).
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. xlviii. 216 With bowinge knees þey worshipid him. c 1470 Henry Wallace iii. 215 On bowand treis [thai] hangit thaim rycht thar. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 68 The nearer the eye comes to a great thing that is bowing, the less bowing it seems. 1728 Young Love Fame iv. (R.), And then he can out-bow the bowing dean. |
b. fig. Yielding, submissive, obedient.
| a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7987 Alle thing tylle þam salle be boghand. c 1400 Destr. Troy 901 [Þe orible oxin]..as bowande to þe bowes as any bestes might. 1844 Kinglake Eothen xxv. 325 The readily-bowing mind of the oriental. |
† 2. That may be bent; flexible, pliant. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 331/2 His fyngers and his toes..were bowyng and hoole as they hadde be newely buryed. 1551 Turner Herbal F v b, To make hoopis of, and twygges for baskets it is so bowing. 1570 Levins Manip. 136 Bowing, lentus, flexilis. |