Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use bow in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Bow means a weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows. Example: “The musician bowed his violin expertly.”

Examples of bow by meaning

nounA weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for...

  • Holonym: bow and arrow

nounEither of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.

  • One of the bows had been mended with adhesive tape, and one of the lenses was cracked.1991, Stephen King, Needful Things

verbTo play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.

  • The musician bowed his violin expertly.

verbTo bend or curve, particularly downward.

  • The shelf bowed under the weight of the books.

verbTo bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.

  • That singer always bows towards her audience for some reason.
  • She had lovely green hair and green eyes, and she bowed low before Dorothy as she said, "Follow me and I will show you your room."1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC
  • At the end he bowed and thanked me once more.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

verbTo debut.

  • The show bowed in the first week of December, 1951.1979, Bruce Cassiday, Dinah!: A Biography, page 115
  • The Musical will bow on the newly renovated stage next December.2010 (publication date), Kara Krekeler, "Rebuilding the opera house", West End Word, volume 39, number 26, December 22, 2010 – January 11...

verbTo defer (to something).

  • I bow to your better judgement in the matter.

verbTo give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.

  • In another moment he had opened a door, and, drawing aside a heavy curtain, obsequiously bowed Tarzan into a dimly lighted apartment.1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Plot That Failed”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company...
  • Poirot rose gallantly, bowed her into the seat opposite him.1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 7, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 124
  • He saw himself, in a smart suit and a songkok, bowed into the opulent suites of Ritzes and Waldorfs and baring, under dark glasses, a hairy chest to a milder sun by a snakeless sea.1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 302

More sentences with bow

  • Each time we came around into the wind, the sea broached our bow.From the entry broach
  • Hold the cello bow with the hand in a pronate position over the frog.From the entry pronate
  • We waited expectantly as the guest violinist rosined his bow in preparation for playing.From the entry rosin
  • He swept off his hat and made a deep courtly bow.From the entry courtly
  • The damage from hitting the iceberg head on was at the bow rather than amidship.From the entry amidship
  • The years we spent together were the worst years of my life. You can take a bow.From the entry take a bow
  • If a sailing boat's bow is pointing too high into the wind the sails backwind.From the entry backwind
  • The new product will make its bow on the world market this summer.From the entry make one's bow
  • I need a re-hair and a new bow grip but I can't afford either.From the entry bow grip
  • Improving your bow grip is one of the most challenging aspects of learning to play the violin.From the entry bow grip
  • Ship ahoy, three points off the starboard bow!From the entry point
  • (kayaking) the bow; the front of the kayak.From the entry toe
  • His bow and arrow never leaves him.From the entry leave
  • Once you have obtained the elven bow, return to the troll bridge and trade it for the sleeping potion.From the entry once
  • Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break.From the entry pluck
  • An ashen bow and quiver of arrows beside.From the entry ashen
  • He gave a stilted bow and left.From the entry stilted
  • You better bow down to my skills.From the entry bow down
  • Letterwood has often been used to make bows and walking-sticks.From the entry letterwood
  • Could you rehair my bow by tomorrow?From the entry rehair
  • A baidarka has a forked bow.From the entry forked
  • Unstring the bows before storing them.From the entry unstring
  • Pitchpoling occurs when the bow buries itself in the wave ahead while the wave behind lifts the aft section up and over.From the entry pitchpole
  • Cracked porcelain dolls, bows, fluttering butterflies, and ghostly dresses that whisper stories of sorrow and longing.2025 August 20, Sterling Rhyn, “25+ Welwitschia Goth (whimsical emo) Crochet Patterns to Make”, in Cactus Lady Creation, archived from the…. From the entry Welwitschia Goth
  • If the tension of the bowstring decreases, the bow wood relaxes equally.2023, Rolf Eichinger, Kerstin Klink, “The Assessment in KLINEA” (chapter 9), in Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: Diagnostics and Therapy…. From the entry gelosis
  • However, if you pull on the string, the tension of the bow increases immediately.2023, Rolf Eichinger, Kerstin Klink, “The Assessment in KLINEA” (chapter 9), in Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: Diagnostics and Therapy…. From the entry gelosis
  • Elements such as bows, butterflies, dresses, dolls, and blood are frequent in Welwitschia Goth imagery.2023 August 7, geezylps, Aesthetic August day 6: Welwitschia Goth. From the entry Welwitschia Goth

Meaning of bow

  1. noun A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
  2. noun A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
  3. noun A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.

Full definition of bow

Questions about bow in a sentence

How do you use bow in a sentence?
Bow is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The musician bowed his violin expertly.”
What is a short sentence with bow?
“Holonym: bow and arrow”
What does bow mean?
Bow means a weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bow (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use bow in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/bow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.