Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use cowl in a sentence

18 example sentences · noun, verb, adjective

Cowl means a monk's hood that can be pulled forward to cover the face; a robe with such a hood attached to it. Example: “She brought the corner of the quilt over his head like a cowl and pulled it down over his face.”

Examples of cowl by meaning

nounA monk's hood that can be pulled forward to cover the face; a robe with such a hood attached to it.

  • She brought the corner of the quilt over his head like a cowl and pulled it down over his face.1939 April 14, John Steinbeck, chapter 13, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 145

nounA usually hood-shaped covering used to increase the draft of a chimney and prevent backflow.

  • I’m sure I’m very sorry, but it’s always this way when the wind’s in the east, sir, and we’ve tried ever so many sorts of cowls and chimney-pots, you’d be surprised.1933, Dorothy L. Sayers, “Sleuths on the Scent”, in Hangman’s Holiday, New York: Harper & Row, published 1987, page 96
  • And sail-like, their wind vanes turn the angled cowls with the breeze to create a vacuum inside that draws up hot air to dry the hops on their slatted floor below.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 227, photo caption

nounA ship's ventilator with a bell-shaped top which can be swivelled to catch the wind and force it below.

  • All he did was to move the cowl round a few inches, with an enormous expenditure of force, and seemed spent in the effort.1902 January–March, Joseph Conrad, “Typhoon”, in George R. Halkett, editor, The Pall Mall Magazine, volume XXVI, London: Printed by Hazell...

verbTo cover with, or as if with, a cowl (hood).

  • The sky was cowled with cloud, all except a narrow chink where it met the horizon.1945, Robert W. Service, chapter 8, in Ploughman of the Moon, New York: Dodd, Mead, page 249

verbTo wrap or form (something made of fabric) like a cowl.

  • When he came downstairs from the bar with the whiskies, she had found a sweater for herself and had cowled a thick raincoat over Sligo.1964, Hortense Calisher, “Extreme Magic”, in Extreme Magic: A Novella and Other Stories, Boston: Little, Brown, page 208
  • As the evenings got colder, he used to reach up and pull down the green baize cloth, and cowl it around himself and wear it like a kind of igloo.1972, Edna O’Brien, Night, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, published 1987, page 70

adjectiveCold.

  • An' bitther cowl; an' min' ye I had play,1983, William Forbes Marshall, John the Liar

More sentences with cowl

  • What on earth is that?” Zelf took off the cowl that covered her face.2014, Robert Denethon, Steam Submarine Cryptoloup, Submarine Media Pty Ltd. From the entry werehuman
  • In a greige cowl, getting off with your sister, without a single gag across three films?2009 June 29, Caitlin Moran, “Sorry Star Wars fans, but Ghostbusters is the best film ever made”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN…. From the entry greige
  • See the high cowl but here wider and very draped .2007, Nirupama Pundir, Fashion Technology: Today and Tomorrow, page 139. From the entry draped
  • They are black-avised as warlocks and wear their black cowls with formality and disdain.1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Penguin, published 2004, page 652. From the entry blackavised
  • Except for the icky cowl enveloping the bulb, which we washed off in the cold strem that bloomingly warm day .2022, Deborah Joy Corey, Debra Spark, Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family, page 106. From the entry bloomingly
  • This consisted of a large black cape, shaped cowl and pants with belt, with 'shimmering P.V.C. contrasting bat decorations'.1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 186. From the entry nosepiece
  • Charlie Nobles should be fitted with cowls which will automatically turn to leeward and thereby force the draught.1945, Harold Augustin Calahan, Learning to Cruise, page 120. From the entry Charlie Noble
  • Cowl was heard on the landing.1917, Arnold Bennett, The Lion's Share. From the entry policemanish
  • Since this cowl released a flutter of moths and parted at the shoulder as he was getting into it, he decided that it must be his own.1954, Hubert Van Zeller, Downside By and Large, page 277. From the entry decide
  • They gave up the solitary life and adopted the Benedictine Rule, still retaining the white habit and cowl which distinguish them from the majority of Benedictines.1932, Peter F[rederick] Anson, “Benedictine Solitaries”, in The Quest of Solitude, London; Toronto, Ont.: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.; New…. From the entry Williamite

Meaning of cowl

  1. noun A monk's hood that can be pulled forward to cover the face; a robe with such a hood attached to it.
  2. noun A mask that covers the majority of the head.
  3. noun A thin protective covering over all or part of an engine; also cowling.

Full definition of cowl

Questions about cowl in a sentence

How do you use cowl in a sentence?
Cowl is used as a noun, verb and adjective. For example: “She brought the corner of the quilt over his head like a cowl and pulled it down over his face.”
What is a short sentence with cowl?
“Cowl was heard on the landing.”
What does cowl mean?
Cowl means a monk's hood that can be pulled forward to cover the face; a robe with such a hood attached to it.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cowl (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 cowl in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/cowl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.