cow
cow
/kaʊ/
1 a large animal kept on farms to produce milk or beef
to milk a cow
cow’s milk
a herd of dairy cows (= cows kept for their milk)
Collocations
adjective
… of cows
verb + cow
cow + verb
cow + noun
phrases
a breed of cow
2 the female of the elephant, whale and some other large animals
3 (slang) an offensive word for a woman who you do not like
4 (Australian English, New Zealand English) an unpleasant person, thing or situation
see also cash cow, milch cow, sacred cow
Idioms
cow
/kaʊ/
to frighten somebody in order to make them obey you
be cowed (by somebody/something) She was easily cowed by people in authority.
Two judges have refused to be cowed by pressure from the government.
be cowed into (doing) something They were wrong if they thought she could be cowed into submission by threats.
Word Origin
noun Old English cū, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koe and German Kuh, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin bos and Greek bous.
verb late 16th cent.: probably from Old Norse kúga ‘oppress’.