Naut. Also 7 bowe, 8 bough, [Recorded only since 1600. Corresp. in form and sense to LG. bûg, Du. boeg, Da. boug, bov, Sw. bog, all with senses ‘shoulder of man or beast,’ and ‘bow of a ship.’ The older Teut. forms were ON. bóg-r, OHG. buog (MHG. buoc), MDu. boech ‘shoulder of man or beast,’ OE. bóʓ, bóh ‘shoulder, upper arm,’ and ‘bough of a tree’:—OTeut. *bôgu-z. corresp. to Gr. πᾶχυς, πῆχυς, and Skr. bāhu-s ‘arm.’ Bow is thus in origin the same word as BOUGH, but while the latter has come down direct from OE. in one of the OE. senses, bow has been adopted at a later time from LG., Du., or Da., in the special sense of the ‘shoulders’ of a boat or ship, developed in the maritime speech of one or other of these, but not known to OE. or ME. Bough and bow have thus widely diverged, the earlier meaning of ‘shoulder, arm,’ not being retained by either. (Not related to BOW sb.1, nor to BOW v.1, though probably now associated with the latter in the popular etymological consciousness, as appears from most attempts to explain it.]
1. ‘The fore-end of a ship or boat; being the rounding part of a vessel forward, beginning on both sides where the planks arch inwards, and terminating where they close, at the rabbet of the stem or prow, being larboard or starboard from that division.’ Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk. Also in pl. ‘bows,’ i.e., the ‘shoulders’ of a boat.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 11. The bend, the bowe, the hawse. Ibid. (1627), Seaman’s Gram., ii. 10. The Bow is the broadest part of the Ship before, compassing the Stem to the Loufe.
1703. Lond. Gaz., No. 3923/3. She had cut her Anchors from the Bow.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., II. l. 220. The Sea … broke over the Ship, carrying away … two Anchors from the lee Bough.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), I. 166. At day-break [we] observed the others [rocks] under our bows.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, III. 81. A number of boats … having their several pipers in the bow.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, x. 24. Baggage, which we put into the bows of the boat.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, ii. 44. We saw a large West Indiaman suddenly … stand across our Bows.
1882. Daily Tel., 12 Sept., 2/2. The sea washes noisily against the weather bow.
b. An object is said to be on the bow when within 45° of the point right ahead.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 18. He stands right a-head; or on the weather bow, or ley bow.
1762–9. Falconer, Shipwr., III. 124. Cliffs they view Faintly along the larboard bow descried.
1883. Law Times Rep., XLIX. 332/1. A steamer … bearing about three or four points on the starboard bow of the Clan Sinclair.
c. attrib.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., i. (ed. 2), 22. A Column is said to be in Two Bow Lines when the ships are ranged on each bow of a single ship.
2. transf. The rower nearest to the bow. (colloq.)
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xxxii. In bow forward!—way enough.
1860. Hughes, Tom Brown Oxford, xxxiii. The last man whom Tom would have chosen as bow in a pair oar.
3. Comb., as bow-anchor, -port, -sheet, -side, -timber; † bow-chase, bow-chaser (see quots.); bow-fast, a hawser at the bow to secure a vessel to a wharf (see FAST); bow-grace, bow-grease, ‘a kind of frame or fender of old junk placed round the bows and sides of a ship to prevent her receiving injury from floating ice or timbers’ (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.); (also called BON-GRACE, and in some way connected with that word); bow-oar, the oar nearest the bow; transf. the man who pulls this oar; bow-pieces, ‘the ordnance in the bows’ (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.). See also BOWLINE, BOWMAN2, BOWSPRIT.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., vii. 29. The first, second, and third Anchor … are called *Bow Anchors.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc., vi. (ed. 6), I. 205. Both port and bow anchors were cast in deep waters.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), *Bow Chace, a cannon … in the fore-part of a ship to fire upon any object a-head of her.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xvii. Firing only her *bow-chasers.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 106. The former [ports] are made for the purpose of firing upon an enemy ahead, and are called bow-chasers.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Bow-chasers, two long chase-guns placed forward in the bow-ports to fire directly ahead.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., xiii. 60. Begin with your *bow peeces.
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, iii. I was looking out of the *bow-port. Ibid. (1837), Dog-Fiend, xxii. The men had thrown their pea jackets under the *bow-sheets.
1885. ‘Where Chineses Drive,’ 5. The oarsman on the *bow-side strokes.
