low
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈləʊ/
ipa: /ˈloʊ/
ipa: /ˈloʊ/
ipa: [ˈloː]
homophone: lo
homophone: Lowe
rhymes: -əʊ
Forms: form: lower
form: lowest
Etymology: From Middle English lowe, lohe, lāh, from Old Norse lágr (“low”), from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz (“lying, flat, situated near the ground, low”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).
Cognate with Scots laich (“low”), Saterland Frisian läich (“low”), West Frisian leech (“low”), Dutch laag (“low”), obsolete German läg (“low”), German Low German leeg, leeg' (“low”), Danish lav (“low”), Faroese, Icelandic lágur (“low”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish låg (“low”). More at lie.
Senses: glosses: Close to the ground.
examples: text: Can sing both high and low.
ref: c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
glosses: Of a pitch, at a lower frequency.
examples: text: to speak low
text: [T]he amorous, odorous wind, / Breathes low between the sunset and the moon, […]
ref: 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “Eleanore”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 31:
glosses: With a low voice or sound; not loudly; gently.
examples: text: He sold his wheat low.
glosses: Under the usual price; at a moderate price; cheaply.
examples: text: But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.
ref: 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):
glosses: In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.
examples: text: In that part of the world which was first inhabited, […] even as low down as Abraham's time, they wandered with their flocks and herds.
ref: 1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC:
glosses: In a time approaching our own.
examples: text: The moon runs low, i.e. comparatively near the horizon when on or near the meridian.
topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
glosses: In a path near the equator, so that the declination is small, or near the horizon, so that the altitude is small; said of the heavenly bodies with reference to the diurnal revolution.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: high and low
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: lay low
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: lie low
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-born
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: lowborn
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-bred
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: lowbred
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-cut
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-enriched uranium
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-flying
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-hanging
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-lying
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-pitched
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-priced
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-ranking
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-rider
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-riding
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: low-slung
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: run low
sense: Terms derived from low (adverb)
word: see-low