Word.ws English Dictionary

alow

/əˈləʊ/

alow adverb: low down.

Adverb

alow (not comparable)

  1. (Scotland) Low down.
    • Sometimes aloft he layd, sometimes alow, / Now here, now there, and oft him neare he mist […].1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  2. Towards the lower part of a vessel; towards the lower rigging or the decks.
    • I think you said something concerning the manner in which yonder ship has anchored, and of the condition they keep things alow and aloft?1859, James Fenimore Cooper, The Red Rover: A Tale
    • Ay, Ay, Ay, all is up; and I must up too / Early in the morning, aloft from alow.1924, Herman Melville, chapter 26, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.

Preposition

alow

  1. (Scotland) Below.

Adjective

alow (not comparable)

  1. (Scotland) alight; ablaze

Origin of alow

From Middle English alowe, equivalent to a- + low.

From a- + low, from low (“flame”).

Questions about alow

What does alow mean?
Alow means low down.
What part of speech is alow?
Alow can be an adverb, a preposition or an adjective.
How do you pronounce alow?
Alow is pronounced /əˈləʊ/ (UK).

Words near alow in the dictionary

  1. alouattine
  2. aloud
  3. Alouette
  4. aloun-aloun
  5. alovudine
  6. alow
  7. aloxiprin
  8. aloxistatin
  9. aloxite
  10. Aloysius
  11. alp

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alow (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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