From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Sow \Sow\, verb (used with an object) [imp. {Sowed}; p. p. {Sown}or {Sowed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Sowing}.] [OE. sowen, sawen, AS. s[=a]wan; akin to OFries. s?a, D. zaaijen, OS. & HG. s[=a]jan, G. s["a]en, Icel. s[=a], Sw. s[*a], Dan. saae, Goth. saian, Lith. s[=e]ti, Russ. sieiate, L. serere, sevi. Cf. {Saturday}, {Season}, {Seed}, {Seminary}.]
1. To scatter, as seed, upon the earth; to plant by strewing; as, to sow wheat. Also used figuratively: To spread abroad; to propagate. ''He would sow some difficulty.'' --Chaucer.
A sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside. --Matt. xiii. 3, 4.
And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers. --Addison.
2. To scatter seed upon, in, or over; to supply or stock, as land, with seeds. Also used figuratively: To scatter over; to besprinkle.
The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, . . . and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles. --Sir M. Hale.
[He] sowed with stars the heaven. --Milton.
Now morn . . . sowed the earth with orient pearl. --Milton.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Sow \Sow\, verb (used without an object) To sew. See {Sew}. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Sow \Sow\, noun [OE. sowe, suwe, AS. sugu, akin to s[=u], D. zog, zeug, OHG. s[=u], G. sau, Icel. s[=y]r, Dan. so, Sw. sugga, so, L. sus. Gr. "y^s, sy^s, Zend. hu boar; probably from the root seen in Skr. s[=u] to beget, to bear; the animal being named in allusion to its fecundity. [root]294. Cf. {Hyena}, {Soil} to stain, {Son}, {Swine}.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) The female of swine, or of the hog kind.
3. (Metal.) (a) A channel or runner which receives the rows of molds in the pig bed. (b) The bar of metal which remains in such a runner. (c) A mass of solidified metal in a furnace hearth; a salamander.
4. (Mil.) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, or the like. --Craig.
{Sow bread}. (Bot.) See {Cyclamen}.
{Sow bug}, or {Sowbug} (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of terrestrial {Isopoda} belonging to {Oniscus}, {Porcellio}, and allied genera of the family {Oniscid[ae]}. They feed chiefly on decaying vegetable substances.
{Sow thistle} [AS. sugepistel] (Bot.), a composite plant ({Sonchus oleraceus}) said to be eaten by swine and some other animals.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Sow \Sow\, verb (used without an object) To scatter seed for growth and the production of a crop; -- literally or figuratively.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joi. --Ps. cxxvi. 5.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
verb
1: place (seeds) in or on the ground for future growth; "She sowed sunflower seeds" [syn: {sough}, {seed}]
2: introduce into an environment; "sow suspicion or beliefs" [syn: {sough}]
3: place seeds in or on (the ground); "sow the ground with sunflower seeds" [syn: {inseminate}, {sow in}] [also: {sown}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
100 Moby Thesaurus words for "sow": Partlet, barrow, bed, bestrew, biddy, bitch, boar, bossy, broadcast, brood mare, bullion, button, cast, casting, circumfuse, cow, deal out, dibble, diffract, diffuse, dispense, disperse, dispread, disseminate, distribute, diverge, doe, drill, ewe, ewe lamb, fan out, filly, forest, gate, gilt, guinea hen, gyp, heifer, hen, hind, hog, implant, ingot, inseminate, issue, jenny, lioness, mare, nanny, nanny goat, overscatter, oversow, overspread, peahen, pig, piggy, piglet, pigling, pitch, plant, porker, pot, propagate, publish, put in, radiate, razorback, reforest, regulus, reset, retail, retimber, roe, scatter, scatter seed, seed, seed down, seminate, set, she-bear, she-goat, she-lion, sheet metal, shoat, slut, sow broadcast, splay, spread, spread out, straw, strew, suckling pig, swine, tigress, toss, transplant, tusker, utter, vixen, wild boar
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