Sc. Also kow, cowe. [Possibly ad. OF. coe, coue, cowe (mod.F. queue, dial. coue, cowe, cawe, etc.) tail: cf. F. quene de chanvre, etc.] A twiggy branch, or bunch of twigs, of birch, broom, heather, etc.; a besom or birch of twigs.
a. 1548. Thrie Priests Peblis. Ane cow of birks into his hand had he.
1598. D. Ferguson, Scot. Proverbs (1785), 21. It is a bare moor, that he gaes o’er, and gets na a cow.
a. 1651. Calderwood, Hist. Kirk (1843), II. 198. They fastened heather kowes to their steele bonnets, to be a signe that they were freinds.
1768. Ross, Helenore, 77 (Jam.). Put on [the fire] a cow till I come o’er the gate.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 68. Some horses ware of the brume-cow framit And some of the greine bay tree.
1836. J. Struthers, Dychmont, I. 136. Thy broom … E’en kowe by kowe was all up-wrung.
1885. D. H. Edwards, Mod. Scot. Poets, Ser. VIII. 46. He waved aloft a flaming cowe O’ whin.
