Mow

Mow. (1) To cut down standing hay or corn with a scythe or with machinery drawn by a horse or mechanical power (see Reaping). The word in O.Eng. is mawan, a verb common to the West German languages, cf. Du. maaien, Ger. mahen; the root is also seen in "meadow," Gr. aµav and Lat. metere, to reap, cut, cf. messis, harvest. (2) A stack or rick of hay, corn, and sometimes also of beans, peas or other crops. The word in O.Eng. is muga, muha, and is cognate with Swedish and Norwegian mega, heap, cf. Swedish allmoge, crowd of people, Danish almuc. " Mow" is chiefly dialectal in England, where it is a common name, e.g. the Barley Mow, on the sign-boards of country inns. From these two words must be distinguished (3) "mow," a grimace, now obsolete or purely literary, and generally found in combination with "mop," cf. "mopping and mowing" in King Lear, iv. 1.64. This is the same word as the modern Fr. moue, pout, which is of obscure origin.