meow

«meow» in Mova's school dictionary: the soft crying sound a cat makes — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (meow, meows, meowed, meowing); noun (a meow, meows); interjection (Meow!)

meaning for a pupil

1) A meow is the soft crying sound a cat makes. tree →

2) To meow is to make this sound. tree →

3) (slang) People sometimes say "meow" after someone makes a catty, spiteful remark, as a joke. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories and early reading, "meow" is a sound word (onomatopoeia) showing that a cat is speaking. In everyday life cats meow to ask for food or to be let in. Phrases: "the cat meowed at the door", "a little meow".

examples

• The kitten meowed until I gave it some milk. tree →
• "Meow!" said the cat, rubbing against my legs. tree →
• We heard a sad meow from under the shed. tree →
• Our cat meows at the door every morning to be let out. tree →
• In music class we sang a song with lots of meows in it. tree →
• (slang) "Your hair looks like a bird's nest." "Ooh, meow!" tree →

note

Spelled "meow" in American English and often "miaow" or "miaou" in British English; all mean the same. It is an onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like the noise it names, like "woof" and "moo". Past: meowed.

In the corpora

• The cat meowed all night and Mum was cross.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «meow» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.