[syn: inseminate, sow, sow in]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sow \Sow\, v. i.
To sew. See Sew. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sow \Sow\, n. [OE. sowe, suwe, AS. sugu, akin to s[=u], D. zog,
zeug, OHG. s[=u], G. sau, Icel. s[=y]r, Dan. so, Sw. sugga,
so, L. sus. Gr. "y^s, sy^s, Zend. hu boar; probably from the
root seen in Skr. s[=u] to beget, to bear; the animal being
named in allusion to its fecundity. [root]294. Cf. Hyena,
Soil to stain, Son, Swine.]
1. (Zool.) The female of swine, or of the hog kind.
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2. (Zool.) A sow bug.
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3. (Metal.)
(a) A channel or runner which receives the rows of molds
in the pig bed.
(b) The bar of metal which remains in such a runner.
(c) A mass of solidified metal in a furnace hearth; a
salamander.
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4. (Mil.) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers
in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place,
sapping and mining the wall, or the like. --Craig.
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Sow bread. (Bot.) See Cyclamen.
Sow bug, or Sowbug (Zool.), any one of numerous species
of terrestrial Isopoda belonging to Oniscus,
Porcellio, and allied genera of the family Oniscidae.
They feed chiefly on decaying vegetable substances.
Sow thistle [AS. sugepistel] (Bot.), a composite plant
(Sonchus oleraceus) said to be eaten by swine and some
other animals.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sow \Sow\, v. i.
To scatter seed for growth and the production of a crop; --
literally or figuratively.
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They that sow in tears shall reap in joi. --Ps. cxxvi.
5.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sow \Sow\, v. t. [imp. Sowed; p. p. Sownor Sowed; p. pr. &
vb. n. Sowing.] [OE. sowen, sawen, AS. s[=a]wan; akin to
OFries. s?a, D. zaaijen, OS. & HG. s[=a]jan, G. s[aum]en,
Icel. s[=a], Sw. s[*a], Dan. saae, Goth. saian, Lith.
s[=e]ti, Russ. sieiate, L. serere, sevi. Cf. Saturday,
Season, Seed, Seminary.]
1. To scatter, as seed, upon the earth; to plant by strewing;
as, to sow wheat. Also used figuratively: To spread
abroad; to propagate. "He would sow some difficulty."
--Chaucer.
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A sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some
seeds fell by the wayside. --Matt. xiii.
3, 4.
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And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.
--Addison.
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2. To scatter seed upon, in, or over; to supply or stock, as
land, with seeds. Also used figuratively: To scatter over;
to besprinkle.
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The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, . . .
and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it
with trifles. --Sir M. Hale.
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[He] sowed with stars the heaven. --Milton.
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Now morn . . . sowed the earth with orient pearl.
--Milton.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sow
n 1: an adult female hog
v 1: place (seeds) in or on the ground for future growth; "She
sowed sunflower seeds" [syn: sow, seed]
2: introduce into an environment; "sow suspicion or beliefs"
3: place seeds in or on (the ground); "sow the ground with
sunflower seeds" [syn: inseminate, sow, sow in]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
100 Moby Thesaurus words for "sow":
Partlet, barrow, bed, bestrew, biddy, bitch, boar, bossy,
broadcast, brood mare, bullion, button, cast, casting, circumfuse,
cow, deal out, dibble, diffract, diffuse, dispense, disperse,
dispread, disseminate, distribute, diverge, doe, drill, ewe,
ewe lamb, fan out, filly, forest, gate, gilt, guinea hen, gyp,
heifer, hen, hind, hog, implant, ingot, inseminate, issue, jenny,
lioness, mare, nanny, nanny goat, overscatter, oversow, overspread,
peahen, pig, piggy, piglet, pigling, pitch, plant, porker, pot,
propagate, publish, put in, radiate, razorback, reforest, regulus,
reset, retail, retimber, roe, scatter, scatter seed, seed,
seed down, seminate, set, she-bear, she-goat, she-lion,
sheet metal, shoat, slut, sow broadcast, splay, spread, spread out,
straw, strew, suckling pig, swine, tigress, toss, transplant,
tusker, utter, vixen, wild boar