bow
part of speech
noun (bow, bows); verb (bow, bows, bowed, bowing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A bow (rhymes with «go») is a knot with two loops made from ribbon or laces. tree →
2) A bow (rhymes with «go») is also a bent stick with a string for shooting arrows, or a stick with hairs for playing the violin. tree →
3) To bow (rhymes with «cow») is to bend your head or body forward to say thank you or show respect. tree →
4) The bow (rhymes with «cow») is the front part of a ship. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school maths: a thing made from ribbon — ribbon per bow; how many bows from a length of ribbon. In everyday life: tying shoelaces in a bow, a bow on a present, bowing at the end of a show. In stories: archers with bows and arrows, like Robin Hood. Phrases: «tie a bow», «bow and arrow», «take a bow».
examples
- Each bow needs 2 feet of ribbon. tree →
- She made 6 bows. tree →
- How many bows from 15 feet of ribbon? tree →
- The actors bow at the end. tree →
- Can you tie your shoelaces in a bow? tree →
- Robin Hood was great with a bow and arrow. tree →
- The violinist moved her bow across the strings. tree →
- Waves crashed over the bow of the ship. tree →
- The arrow sprang from the bow! tree →
note
Two sounds, two meanings: «bow» like «go» (ribbon, weapon, violin) and «bow» like «cow» (bending, front of a ship). Maths: ribbon ÷ ribbon per bow gives how many bows. Trap: the leftover ribbon is not enough for one more bow, so drop the remainder.
In the corpora
- The curtain call is the bows at the end, and it is rehearsed, often with the lead bowing last.
- That bow means «this is a game, it's all fun».
- When they bow, their curly wigs get tangled, and Alice has to run off to hide her laughter.
- Told to get up, the gardeners keep bowing to everybody, and the Queen screams «Leave off that!
- A play bow, with the front legs down and the bottom up, is a dog's invitation to play.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «bow» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.