BOW DOWN

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bow down mean? 

• BOW DOWN (verb)
  The verb BOW DOWN has 2 senses:

1. get into a prostrate position, as in submission

2. bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head

  Familiarity information: BOW DOWN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOW DOWN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Get into a prostrate position, as in submission

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

bow down; prostrate

Hypernyms (to "bow down" is one way to...):

lie; lie down (assume a reclining position)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bow; bow down

Context example:

She bowed her head in shame

Hypernyms (to "bow down" is one way to...):

gesticulate; gesture; motion (show, express or direct through movement)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bow down"):

conge; congee (perform a ceremonious bow)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s to somebody

 Context examples 

"If I put an end to your enemy, will you bow down to me and obey me as King of the Forest?" inquired the Lion.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Jo went prepared to bow down and adore the mighty ones whom she had worshiped with youthful enthusiasm afar off.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“But they must be sorry folk to bow down to the rich in such a fashion,” said big John.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That is the King of birds, said the wolf, before whom we must bow down.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

There would be a fleeting glimpse of the three men flinging water in frantic haste, when she would topple over and fall into the yawning valley, bow down and showing her full inside length to the stern upreared almost directly above the bow.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“Oh! There is nothing,” observed Hamlet's aunt, “so satisfactory to one! There is nothing that is so much one's beau-ideal of—of all that sort of thing, speaking generally. There are some low minds (not many, I am happy to believe, but there are some) that would prefer to do what I should call bow down before idols. Positively Idols! Before service, intellect, and so on. But these are intangible points. Blood is not so. We see Blood in a nose, and we know it. We meet with it in a chin, and we say, “There it is! That's Blood!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)