# stow
## English
### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /stoʊ/
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /stəʊ/
    Rhymes: -əʊ
* Homophone: store (in some accents)
* Audio (UK):(file)

### Etymology 1

From Middle English stowe, from Old English stōw (“place, location”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōu, from Proto-Germanic *stōō (“a place, stowage”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, place, put”). Cognate with Old Frisian stō (“place”), Icelandic stó (“fireplace”), Dutch stouw (“place”), German Stau (“congestion”). See also -stow.

#### Noun

stow (plural stows)
* (rare) A place, stead.

##### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:stow.

##### Derived terms

* moot-stow

### Etymology 2

From Middle English stowen, stawen, stewen, from Old English stōwian (“to hold back, restrain”), from Proto-Germanic *stōōną, *stōjaną (“to stow, dam up”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, place”). Cognate with Dutch stuwen, stouwen (“to stow”), Low German stauen (“to blin, halt, hinder”), German stauen (“to halt, hem in, stow, pack”).

#### Verb

stow (third-person singular simple present stows, present participle stowing, simple past and past participle stowed) (transitive)
* To put something away in a compact and tidy manner, in its proper place, or in a suitable place.
* To store or pack something in a space-saving manner and over a long time.
** 1922, James A. Cooper, Sheila of Big Wreck Cove:Yet everybody knows that a cargo properly stowed in a seaworthy craft reaches market in much the better condition than by rail, though perhaps it is some hours longer on the way.
* To arrange, pack, or fill something tightly or closely.
* To dispose of, lodge, or hide somebody somewhere.
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 3:Ar. […] The Marriners all vnder hatches ſtowed, / Who, with a Charme ioynd to their ſuffred labour / I haue left aſleep : […]
* (obsolete, slang, transitive) To cease; to stop doing something.
** Bet the Coaley's Daughter (traditional song)
    But when I strove my flame to tell, / Says she, 'Come, stow that patter, / If you're a cove wot likes a gal, / Vy don't you stand some gatter?' / In course I instantly complied— / Two brimming quarts of porter, / With sev'ral goes of gin beside, / Drain'd Bet the Coaley's daughter.
** 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:“Come, come,” said Silver; “stow this talk. He’s dead, and he don’t walk, that I know; leastways, he won’t walk by day, and you may lay to that. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons.”

##### Derived terms

* bestow
* misstowed
* stowable
* stowage
* stow away
* stower
* stowing
* unstow

##### Translations
#### Interjection

stow
* (obsolete) A cry used by falconers to call their birds back down to hand.
** c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 63, lines 66, 69–74:His seconde hawke wexyd gery […] on the rode loft She perkyd her to rest. The fauconer then was prest, Came runnynge with a dow, And cryed, ‘Stow, stow, stow!’ But she wold not bow.

### Anagrams

* OTWs, SWOT, TOWs, Tows, ow'st, swot, tows, twos, wost, wots

## Old English
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *stōu, from Proto-Germanic *stōō (“a place, location, position”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, place, put”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /stoːw/

### Noun

stōw f
* a place
    Ne sċoldest þū gān tō swā frēcenre stōwe.You shouldn't have gone to such a dangerous place.
** late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Maur, Abbot"
    ...and forġeaf sumne hām tō þǣre hālgan stōwe......and gave certain property to the holy place...
* a place on the body
* a place that is built; house, collection of houses, habitation, dwelling
* a place, position, or spot in a series
* a room, stead
* a place or passage in a book

#### Derived terms

* eardungstōw (“dwelling place, tent”)

#### Descendants

* Middle English: stowe, stow
** Scots: stow
** English: stow

## Scots
### Verb

stow
* (transitive) To cut off; to crop.