▪ I. rowy, a.1
(ˈrəʊɪ)
[f. row n.1 + -y. Cf. roey.]
1. Of cloth: (see later quots.).
| 1552 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 6 §40 If any Searcher..find any of the Clothes..cockely, pursy, bandy, squally or rowy. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Rowy, of uneven texture, having some threads stouter than others. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Rowy, of uneven texture; like linen cloth which has some threads coarser and thicker than others. 1883 in Cent. Dict. s.v., For which reason it is styled rowey, as the thin places extend across the piece [of cloth] similar to the lines on writing-paper. |
2. Striped, streaky, streaked (esp. of bacon).
| 1750 Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. iii. 78 (E.D.S.), If butter is made of clover..it is apt to be rowy. 1895 T. Pinnock Black Co. Ann. (E.D.D.), Hauf a pound o' bacon in rashers, an'..it must be rowy. |
▪ II. rowy, a.2
(ˈraʊɪ)
[f. row n.2 + -y1.]
Noisy; characterized by quarrelling.
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 763 Hes running wild now out at night away from his books and studies and not living at home on account of the usual rowy house. |