bow n.1
1. the penis.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘Trial of Joseph and Mary’ Coventry Mysteries (1841) 136: A cockoldeis bowe is eche nyght bent. He that shett the bolt is lyke to be schent. | |
| Proverbs I Ch. xi: Ye have many stryngs to the bowe, for ye know, / Thought I, havyng the bent of your uncles bow, / Can no way bryng your bolt in the butte to stand. | |
 | Apollo Shroving V iv: I thinke shee has vnbent Apollos bow. | |
| Dozen of Drunkards 13: No Jephthah’s daughter should bewaile her Virginity if she would but bend her string to his bow. | |
| ‘Huntsmans Delight’ in Pepys Ballads (1987) IV 271: The Keepers they would a hunting go, And under their coats each carried his bow, And all for to shoot the bonny bonny Doe. | |
| letter 10 Apr. in Letterbk of Sir G Etheredge (1928) 182: It is but seldom I have had occasion in this grave place to draw my Bow, and when I have, I did not perceive my Nerves were slacken’d. | |
| ‘The Maids Lesson’ in Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 212: She boldly to the Bow must fly, / As if she’d make it crack, / Two fingers on the hair must lye, / And two upon the Back. | |
| in Pills to Purge Melancholy IV 93: To run with his Bow he was not slow, His Fingers were nimble and quick, When he play’d on his Bass, he ravish’d the Lass. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | ‘Duncan Macleerie’ in Merry Muses of Caledonia (1965) 177: Duncan he play’d till his bow it grew greasy. | |
| ‘Cupid Turned Housebreaker’ in Rambler’s Flash Songster 39: To talk about his bow and arrow, tho’ some may delight. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |
2. the buttocks.
| ‘The Saucy Hell-Cat and the Indiaman’ in Lloyd’s Companion 19 Sept. 2/5: ‘Damme, d’ye think I’m the pirate cap’n, that yer claps that ’ere bull-dog [...] so close to my bows?’. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US campus) a young woman who pays a good deal of attention to her looks, dress and general image; she is assumed to be foolish, at best.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Campus Sl. Fall. | |
| Sl. U. 44: bowhead girl who always wears bows in her hair; girl who pays close attention to the way she looks. | |
| Sl. and Sociability 31: As in the general vocabulary of English, slang permits the compounding of words of various grammatical classes, with the exact relationship between the parts unspecified. noun + noun is the dominant pattern: [...] bowhead ‘stereotypical sorority member’ (she wears a bow [object] on her head [object of locative phrase]). |
1. concurrent, of prison sentences.
| Homeboy 85: The judge relented [...] running the deuces bowlegged instead, as in concurrent. |
2. consecutive, of prison sentences.
| Prison Sl. 18: Bowlegged Multiple prison sentences that are to be served consecutively. | |
| You Got Nothing Coming 46: Running wild — bowlegged — that’s consecutive sentences, O.G. |
either of weight or prgenancy, a large, protruding stomach; thus bow-windowed adj.
| Poor Jack 4: He was a very large man, standing six feet high, and with what is termed a considerable bow-window in front. | |
| Pendennis I 343: Look at that very bow-windowed man. | |
| Rosa Fielding 16: I have no notion of having a pretty white belly bow-windowed before marriage! | |
| Daily Tel. 6 May: She was what is vulgarly called bow-windowed [F&H]. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 18 May 2/3: [T]remendously above himself and with a bow window like George Reid. | |
| Argus (Melbourne) 18 Nov. 2/6: The threat of Bow Legs in his knees, and the Promise of Bow Windows (or Brewers’ Goitre) in his waistline. |