low

Adjective

low (comparative lower, superlative lowest)

1. Situated close to, or even below, the ground or another normal reference plane; not high or lofty.
   • standing on low ground
   • in a low valley, ringed by low hills

   Synonyms:

   nether, underslung

   Antonyms:

   high

   1. Pertaining to (or, especially of a language: spoken in) in an area which is at a lesser elevation, closer to sea level (especially near the sea), than other regions.
      • the low countries
      • Low German
   2. Below the batter's knees.
      • the pitch (or: the ball) was low
2. Of less than normal height or upward extent or growth, or of greater than normal depth or recession; below the average or normal level from which elevation is measured.
   • a low bow
   • a low tide

   Synonyms:

   short, small, scrimp, shortsome, stubbed, stubby, stumpy, vertically challenged

   Antonyms:

   tall, elevated, eminent, exalted, high, lofty

   1. Low-cut.
      • Again, observe the unmeaningness of the low neck fashion. Our mothers wore low dresses and bare arms all day long; they knew if their shoulders and arms were beautiful they would look as well by daylight as by candlelight; […]1878, Mary Eliza Joy Haweis, The Art of Beauty, London: Chatto & Windus, page 83
      • Why do girls wear low dresses?1917, George Amos Dorsey, Young Low, page 195
3. Not high in status, esteem, or rank, dignity, or quality. (Compare vulgar.)
   • low birth
   • low rank

   Synonyms:

   bad, mid, sad, sorry, ass, base, below par, bottom-shelf, BTEC, bum

4. Humble, meek, not haughty.
   • God loves an humble soul. It is not our high birth, but our low hearts God delights in.1829, Thomas Watson, Discourses on Important and Interesting Subjects

   Synonyms:

   modest, self-effacing, abased, demure, diffident, humble, humble-hearted, lowly, meek, mild

5. Disparaging; assigning little value or excellence.
   • She had a low opinion of cats. He took a low view of dogs.
   • The humble soul has low thoughts of his own person; as David, 'I am a worm, and no man.'1826, Ebenezer Erskine, The Whole Works of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, Sermon VII, page 103

   Synonyms:

   contemptuous, sneerful, belittling, blistering, contumelious, deprecative, derogative, despising, disdainful, dismissive

6. Being a nadir, a bottom.
   • the low point in her career
   • Virginia, for example, reached such a low point in her junior year that she briefly considered suicide [...]2012, Faith Hartmann, Only a Fool Would Have Believed It in the First Place, →ISBN
7. Depressed in mood, dejected, sad.
   • low spirits
   • As low as I felt, at least I didn't have Hunding's [miserable] job.2016, Rick Riordan, The Hammer of Thor, page 33

   Synonyms:

   sorrowful, unhappy, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless

8. Lacking health or vitality, strength or vivacity; feeble; weak.
   • a low pulse
   • made (or: laid) low by sickness

   Synonyms:

   anemic, frail, breakable, broken-down, damaged, debilitated, decrepit, delicate, dickless, effete

   1. (roleplaying games) Having few hit points remaining; damaged.
9. Dead. (Compare lay low.)
   • And wilt thou weep when I am low?1830, George Gordon Byron Baron Byron, Byron's Poems, page 511
   • [L]et the mournful martial music blow; / The last great Englishman is low.1852, Alfred Tennyson, “Stanza III”, in Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 6

   Synonyms:

   departed, six feet under, asleep, at rest, blessed, cadaverous, clay-cold, deceased, breathless, resting

10. Small, not high (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
    • My credit union charges a low interest rate. Jogging during a whiteout, with such low temperatures and low visibility, is dangerous. The store sold bread at low prices, and milk at even lower prices. The contractors gave a low estimate of the costs. low cholesterol a low voltage wire a low number
    • Unfortunately, low winds were the rule over the local waters and this craft was no better, if as good, as ordinary sailboats under such conditions.1989, Bernard Smith, Sailloons and Fliptackers: The Limits to High-speed Sailing, →ISBN

    Synonyms:

    reduced, devalued, low-level, compact, fun size, fun-sized, ickle, insignificant, lit'l, little

    1. Having a small or comparatively smaller concentration of (a substance, which is often but not always linked by "in" when predicative).
       • diets low in vitamin A
       • made from low-carbon steel
    2. Depleted, or nearing deletion; lacking in supply.
       • running low on cash
       • When silica is in low supply other classes of algae dominate the phytoplankton composition.2002, V.N. Bashkin, Robert W. Howarth, Modern Biogeochemistry, →ISBN, page 151
11. (especially) Simple in complexity or development.
    • low protozoan animals, low cryptogamic plants, and other low organisms
    • In the case of languages spoken by very low races, like the Puris and the Tasmanians, the difficulty of deciding such a point must be very great.1870, Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches Into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, page 80
12. Favoring simplicity (see e.g. low church, Low Tory).
    • Among them there was none more low, more pious, more sincere, or more given to interference. To teach Mr. Worth his duty as a parish clergyman was evidently a necessity to such a bishop.1881, Anthony Trollope, Dr. Wortle's School: A Novel, page 6
    • […] and give a judgment against not only Denison, but the Church's doctrine; and that, it having once been given, we shall not get it reversed; and that the Church of England will seem to be committed to Low doctrine, which […]1889, Reginald Garton Wilberforce, Life of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford and Winchester, page 152

Noun (1)

low (plural lows)

1. A low point or position, literally (as, a depth) or figuratively (as, a nadir, a time when things are at their worst, least, minimum, etc).
   • You have achieved a new low in behavior, Frank.
   • Economic growth has hit a new low.
   1. The minimum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
      • Today's low was 32 °F.
      • A cold one out there today, with lows reaching 33 degrees.
2. A period of depression; a depressed mood or situation.
   • He is in a low right now. the highs and lows of bipolar disorder
3. (informal) An area of low pressure; a depression.
   • A deep low is centred over the British Isles.
4. The lowest-speed gearing of a power-transmission system, especially of an automotive vehicle.
   • Shift out of low before the car gets to eight miles per hour.
5. The lowest trump, usually the deuce; the lowest trump dealt or drawn.
6. (slang, usually) A cheap, cost-efficient, or advantageous price.
   • He got the brand new Yankees jersey for the low.

Adverb

low (comparative lower, superlative lowest)

1. Close to the ground.
2. Of a pitch, at a lower frequency.
   • Can sing both high and low.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
3. With a low voice or sound; not loudly; gently.
   • to speak low
   • [T]he amorous, odorous wind, / Breathes low between the sunset and the moon, […]1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “Eleanore”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 31
4. Under the usual price; at a moderate price; cheaply.
   • He sold his wheat low.
5. In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.
   • But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a...
6. In a time approaching our own.
   • In that part of the world which was first inhabited, […] even as low down as Abraham's time, they wandered with their flocks and herds.1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC
7. In a path near the equator, so that the declination is small, or near the horizon, so that the altitude is small; said of the heavenly bodies with reference to the diurnal revolution.
   • The moon runs low, i.e. comparatively near the horizon when on or near the meridian.

Verb (1)

low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To lower; to make low.
   • I shall only say this, that all the other graces must low the sail to faith, and so it is faith must carry us through, being that last triumphing grace, […]1654 (edition of 1762), Andrew Gray, The Works of … Andrew Gray [Edited by R. Trail and J. Stirling], page 112
   • Now to use these as Hypotheseis, as himself in his Word, is pleas'd to low himself to our capacities, is allowable:1661 (edition of 1885), Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: … Vanity of Dogmatizing, page 85

Verb (2)

UK/ləʊ/US/loʊ/

low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)

1. (intransitive) To moo.
   • The cattle were lowing.
   • In peals of thunder now she roars--and now / She gently whimpers like a lowing cow1726, Jonathan Swift, “The Lamentations of Glumdalclitch for the Loss of Grildrig”, in Gulliver's Travels, A Voyage to Brobdingnag

Noun (2)

UK/ləʊ/US/loʊ/

low (plural lows)

1. (Scotland, UK, countable, dialectal) A flame; fire; blaze.
   • She was, as one of them expressed himself, in a light low (bright flame) when they observed a king's ship, with her colours up, heave in sight from behind the cape. The guns of the burning vessel discharged themselves […]1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown...
   • A boy fell aff his chair a' in a low, for the discharge had set him on fire […]1843, John Wilson, The Noctes Ambrosianœ of "Blackwood"., page 478

Verb (3)

UK/ləʊ/US/loʊ/

low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)

1. (Scotland, UK, dialectal) To burn; to blaze.
   • Driest wood will eithest low,1724 (edition of 1788), Allan Ramsay, The Tea-Table Miscellany, page 23
   • They scarcely left to co'er their fuds,
     To quench their lowan drouth.1785, Robert Burns, The Jolly Beggars

Noun (3)

UK/ləʊ/US/loʊ/

low (plural lows)

1. (archaic, obsolete) Barrow, mound, tumulus.
   • A barrow or Low, such as were usually cast up over the bodies of eminent Captains.1686, Robert Plot, The natural history of Staffordshire
2. (Scottish, archaic, dialectal) A hill.
   • And some they brought the brown lint-seed, and flung it down from the Low.1847, Mary Howitt, Ballads and other poems

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Low

Low (countable and uncountable, plural Lows)

1. A surname.
2. A township municipality in La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada, named after Charles Adamson Low.
3. A ghost town in Tooele County, Utah, United States.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: LOW

LOW

1. The station code of Lo Wu in Hong Kong.

Noun (4) capitalized: LOW

LOW (uncountable)

1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of launch on warning.