mow

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈmau̇

Synonyms of mow next

: a piled-up stack (as of hay or fodder)

also : a pile of hay or grain in a barn

: the part of a barn where hay or straw is stored

mow

2 of 4

verb (1)

ˈmō

mowed; mowed or mown ˈmōn

; mowing

transitive verb

: to cut down with a scythe or sickle or machine

: to cut the standing herbage (such as grass) of

mow the lawn

a(1)

: to kill or destroy in great numbers or mercilessly

machine guns mowed down the enemy

(2)

: to cause to fall : knock down

: to overcome swiftly and decisively : rout

mowed down the opposing team

intransitive verb

: to cut down standing herbage (such as grass)

mower

ˈmō(-ə)r

noun

mow

3 of 4

verb (2)

ˈmau̇

ˈmō

mowed; mowing; mows

intransitive verb

: to make grimaces

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The plan that’s being developed will have to address this issue, but the reality is the options are few — mow, graze or burn — and none are easy to carry out or guaranteed to be effective. —

Jennifer Oldham, ProPublica, 12 May 2023 Anybody should be able to get behind any mower and mow safely without a lot of instruction. —

Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 12 May 2023 To keep ticks at bay at home, trim brush, mow grass, and rake leaves on your property. —

Health Editorial Team, Health, 21 Apr. 2023 Homeowners want an eco-friendly and no-mow solution that still provides the durability of traditional grass. —

Angela Belt, House Beautiful, 5 Apr. 2023 You’ll also be expected to operate a variety of trucks, prune shrubs and fruit trees and inspect for plant diseases, and mow and water lawns. —

Graham Averill, Outside Online, 21 Feb. 2023 Information prior and post mow -- Eden will provide photos of your finished lawn -- are all digitally accessible. —

Daniela Cacho, cleveland, 14 June 2020 Each battery provides 60 minutes of mow time, and the mower runs with minimal vibration to make mowing less tedious. —

Better Homes & Gardens, 4 May 2022 Create no-mow zones. —

Matthew Cicanese And Erika Reiter, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Apr. 2020

Verb

Pilots right-hander Peter Allegro mowed through the Oregon State lineup for five dominant innings, allowing just one hit and two walks to quiet a surging offense that entered the game batting .375 and averaging 9.3 runs per game in May. —

Joe Freeman, oregonlive, 10 May 2023 As May 1 looms, Americans face a complicated moral choice: Whether to mow their lawns. —

James R. Hagerty, wsj.com, 28 Apr. 2023 The killings happened inside the office of their Siesta Motel in Irondale during a dispute over money after Mulkey mowed grass for them at their two properties. —

Carol Robinson | Crobinson@al.com, al, 23 Apr. 2023 When to Plant Deer Food Plots: Mid-Summer Cover crops require no maintenance in summer, but perennial stands like clover and chicory can be mowed a time or two to promote growth and knock back weeds. —

Adam Lewis, Field & Stream, 13 Mar. 2023 Though he was not charged in the Reichard beating, Dickerson was reassigned to mow grass at the facility two years later, records show. —

ProPublica, 7 Sep. 2022 The group originally had until August 11 to mow the grass. —

Dallas News, 17 Aug. 2022 As agriculture modernized and industrial farming expanded, artificial fertilizer allowed farmers to mow their meadows earlier in the year, interfering with the corncrake’s mid- to late-summer breeding season. —

New York Times, 4 Aug. 2022 Avoid pesticides and outdoor lighting, mow the grass on a high setting and less frequently, and provide moisture. —

Monica Cardoza, Washington Post, 15 May 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mow.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English, heap, stack, from Old English mūga; akin to Old Norse mūgi heap

Verb (1)

Middle English mowen, going back to Old English māwan (past participle māwen), going back to West Germanic *mēan- (whence, with a differing hiatus consonant, Old Frisian miā, miān "to mow," Middle Dutch maeyen, Old High German *māen), going back to an Indo-European verbal base *h₂meh₁- "reap, mow," whence also Greek amáō, amân "to reap, cut" (perhaps from *h₂mh₁-eh₂-)

Note: Old English māwan is a Class VII strong verb (like cnāwan know entry 1, blāwan blow entry 1), though a weak verb in later Middle and Modern English and in other Germanic languages. The element *-eh₁- in *h₂meh₁- has been treated as a suffix, with a parallel derivative *h₂m-et- yielding Italo-Celtic *met-, in Latin metō, metere "to reap, harvest, cut off," Welsh medaf, medi "to reap," Middle Breton midiff, Breton mediñ, Middle Irish meithel "reaping party," Welsh medel. Hittite hamešha(nt)- "spring, harvest time" has also been connected with *h₂meh₁-, though with some dispute. Cf. aftermath, meadow.