show
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʃəʊ/
enpr: shō
ipa: /ʃoʊ/
ipa: [ʃoː]
ipa: [ʃow]
note: Indic
ipa: /ʃo(w)/
note: without the toe–tow merger
ipa: /ʃɔw/
ipa: /ʃəʊ/
note: Dublin
ipa: /ʃʌo̞/
rhymes: -əʊ
Forms: form: shows
form: showing
form: showed
form: shew
form: shown
form: showed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: show
form: show
form: showed
form: show
form: showest
form: showed
form: showedst
form: shows
form: showeth
form: showed
form: show
form: showed
form: show
form: showed
form: show
form: -
form: showing
form: shown
form: shew
form: shewe
form: showe
Etymology: From Middle English schewen, from Old English scēawian (“to look, look at, exhibit, display”), from Proto-West Germanic *skauwōn, from Proto-Germanic *skawwōną (“to look, see”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁- (“to heed, look, feel, take note of”); see haw, gaum, caveat, caution.
Cognate with Scots shaw (“to show”), Dutch schouwen (“to inspect, view”), German schauen (“to see, behold”), Danish skue (“to behold”). Related to sheen.
Wider cognates include Ancient Greek κῦδος (kûdos), Latin caveō whence English caution and caveat, Sanskrit कवि (kaví, “seer, prophet, bard”), Proto-Slavic *čuti (whence Russian чу́ять (čújatʹ) and many more).
Senses: examples: text: The car's dull finish showed years of neglect.
text: All he had to show for four years of attendance at college was a framed piece of paper.
text: I do some sculpturing, but I don't like to show anybody.
text: Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To display, to have somebody see (something).
examples: text: to show mercy; to show favour
text: (dialectal) show me the salt please
glosses: To bestow; to confer.
examples: text: He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.
ref: 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 162:
text: 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns
A report this year in the Journal of Geophysical Research showed that the glacier has lost 60 percent of its mass.
glosses: To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate.
examples: text: Could you please show him on his way. He has overstayed his welcome.
text: Who can show me to office? -I'll show in.
glosses: To guide or escort.
examples: text: Your bald patch is starting to show.
text: At length, his gloom showed.
text: Just such she shows before a rising storm.
ref: 1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):
text: All round a hedge upshoots, and shows / At distance like a little wood.
ref: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Day-Dream. The Sleeping Palace.”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 151:
text: 'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To be visible; to be seen; to appear.
examples: text: We waited for an hour, but they never showed.
glosses: To put in an appearance; show up.
examples: text: Jessica: "So, um, do you think Bella's gonna be showing?"
Angela: "Jess, she's not pregnant."
Jessica: "Okay. Who else gets married at eighteen?"
ref: 2011, Bill Condon, director, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1:
text: "My friend is due 2 weeks after me and she has this cute bump. I’m barely showing! Could something be wrong?
ref: 2012, Carley Roney, The Baby Bump: 100s of Secrets to Surviving Those 9 Long Months, Chronicle Books, page 60:
glosses: To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant.
examples: text: In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
motor-racing
racing
sports
glosses: To finish third, especially of horses or dogs.
examples: text: He called instantly but was too ashamed to show until the river.
ref: 2017, Nathan Schwiethale, Ace High: Mastering Low Stakes Poker Cash Games, page 70:
topics: card-games
games
glosses: To reveal one's hand of cards.
examples: text: My lord of York, it better showed with you.
ref: c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
glosses: To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear.
Synonyms: sense: display
word: display
sense: display
word: exhibit
sense: display
word: flaunt
sense: display
word: indicate
sense: display
word: parade
sense: display
word: point out
sense: display
word: reveal
sense: display
word: rub one's nose in
sense: display
word: show off
sense: display
word: visiblize
sense: indicate a fact to be true
word: demonstrate
sense: indicate a fact to be true
word: prove
sense: put in an appearance
word: arrive
sense: put in an appearance
word: show up
Derived terms: foreshow
go to show
have something to show for something
outshow
show a clean pair of heels
show a leg
show a little ginger
show and share
show and tell
show ankle
show around
show away
show colour
show don't tell
show down
shower
show-er
show forth
show half ball
show in
show off
show one's age
show one's ass
show one's butt
show one's cards
show one's claws
show oneself
show one's face
show one's hand
show one's stripes
show one's stuff
show one's teeth
show one's true colors
show one's true colours
show one's true stripes
show one's work
show out
show round
show shapes
show skin
show somebody the door
show someone a good time
show someone a thing or two
show someone one's etchings
show someone the door
show someone the ropes
show some skin
show the cloven foot
show the cloven hoof
show the flag
show the ropes
show the way
show the white feather
show the white flag
show-through
show up
show what one is made of
show who's boss
show who's the boss
Related terms: showcase
showdown