Forms: 3 lah(e, 3–5 laȝ(e, loȝ(e, 3–6 lowe, (4 louwe), 4–5 lau, 4–6 Sc. and north. law(e, 4– low. Also LAIGH. Also LAIGH. [ME. laȝe, lahe, loȝe, f. the adj.]
1. In a low position; on or under the ground; little above the ground or some base. To carry low (see CARRY 32, 32 c). † To dance low: to dance lifting the feet but little from the ground.
Cf. LOW a. 18; the adv. and the complementary adj. are often difficult to distinguish.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 130. Fleoð heie, & holdeð þauh þet heaued euer lowe.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 5. Þeos … wuneð lahe on eorðe.
c. 1250. Lutel Soth Serm., 37, in O. E. Misc., 188. Loȝe heo holdet hore galun.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 50/131. Him þouȝte it was wel vuele i-do þat he lai so lowe þere, Þat he nere i-bured in herre stude.
1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 3062. When þe ryche man, þat in helle sat lawe, Lazar in Abraham bosom sawe.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., ciii. Law in the gardyn, ryght tofore myn eye.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), II. 288. Tha … Passit ouir Esk richt lauch ouir Sulwa sand.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 233 b. The towne standeth lowe, and the Ryver passeth thorough.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Liberty, Care must be taken not to make the liberty too high, lest it … make the horse carry low.
1782. Ann. Reg., II. 12, note. Persons of all ranks here [in Naples] dance very low.
a. 1800. Cowper, Needless Alarm, 25. The spotted pack, With tails high mounted, ears hung low.
b. fig. Humbly; in a low condition or rank; on poor diet; at a low rate. † To breed (a person) low: to educate in an inferior way (cf. LOW-BRED). To play low: to play for stakes of small amount.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 95. For in her sight to her he bare him lowe.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1012. Lord, with ȝoure leue we lawe ȝow be-sechis.
1530. Palsgr., 449/2. I beare lowe, I behave my selfe humbly, je me humilie.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., IV. vi. 20. That I may conquer Fortunes spight, By liuing low, where Fortune cannot hurt me [etc.].
1673. Ess. Educ. Gentlewom., 3. The Barbarous custom to breed Women low, is grown general amongst us.
1758. Chesterf., Lett. to Son, 5 Sept. (1892), III. 1234. Live cool for a time, and rather low.
1832. Ld. Houghton, in T. W. Reid, Life, I. 122. The doctor here tells me that I … must live very low while I remain in Rome.
1900. Longm. Mag., Dec. 98. You value yourself too low.
2. To a low point, position or posture; also, along a low course, in a low direction.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 14. Þe engles … þe seoð ham lihten swa lah of so swiðe heh.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, 8, in O. E. Misc., 37. He þet is and euer wes in heuene myd his fadere Ful lowe he alyhte.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 798. Loȝe he loutez hem to Loth to þe grounde.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2289. ‘Mi louely lorde,’ quod þe lede & law him declines.
1530. Palsgr., 739/2. Stryke lowe, stryke, lachez jusques a terre.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 143. Oh sir, I did not looke so low.
1602. Dekker, Satiro-mastix, Epilogus M 2 b. You my little Swaggerers that fight lowe: my tough hearts of Oake that stand too’t so valliantly.
1611. Bible, Deut. xxviii. 43. Thou shalt come downe very low.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 81. With what compulsion and laborious flight We sunk thus low?
1726. Shelvocke, Voy. round World, 383. We ought … to … bream as low as we could to destroy the worm.
1842. Macaulay, Lake Regillus. So answered those strange horsemen, And each couched low his spear.
1850–6. O. W. Holmes, Disappointed Statesm., 60. Party fights are won by aiming low.
1871. ‘M. Legrand,’ Cambr. Freshm., 129. The Captain was ‘a fellow who smokes his cigars very low.’
b. fig. and in figurative contexts. Clean and low (see CLEAN adv. 6).
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 15 b. Anone they depresse hym as lowe in mysery & wretchednes.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 21. When I see the sonne of the great Cecile let downe his spirits so low as to mine.
1781. Cowper, Expostul., 547. Verse cannot stoop so low as thy desert.
1805. Morn. Chron., in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1806), IX. 284. He never descended so low as to steal pint pots and door-scrapers.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xviii. 208. Had the royal power ever fallen as low in England as it fell in Germany and Italy.
3. With reference to the voice, the wind, etc.: In a low tone, gently, softly. Also of singing, etc.: At a low pitch, on low notes. (Cf. LOW a. 10.)
c. 1300. Havelok, 2079. Speke y loude, or spek y lowe, þou shalt ful wel heren me.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 717. Summe highe and summe eek lowe songe.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 77. Thogh thei [wyndes] beginne lowe, At ende thei be noght menable.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. iii. 42. O stay and heare, your true loues coming, That can sing both high and low.
1662–3. Pepys, Diary, 1 March. He read his sermon … so brokenly and low, that nobody could hear at any distance.
1713. Addison, Cato, V. iv. 59. Lucia, speak low, he is retired to rest.
1776. Trial of Nundocomar, 76/2. You say, the writer read the bond low: was it so low that you could not hear what was said?
1818. Shelley, Rosalind & Helen, 244. Low muttering o’er his loathed name.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, xxiv. Now, Wulf, speak low.
1856. Mrs. Marsh, Evelyn Marston, I. i. 9. The wind howls low and mournfully around the chimneys.
Mod. I can’t sing so low as that.
4. With reference to time: Far down, or to a point far down; late.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., Introd. (1736), 2. As low as the Reign of Julian we find, that [etc.].
1710. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), III. 45. The IId. vol. of his Church History of Britain … is to come as low as King Charles IId.
1732. in Wesley’s Jrnl. (1830), I. 390. Easter fell low that year.
1734. Swift, Reasons agst. Bill Tithe Flax & Hemp, Wks. 1745, VIII. 101. The Clergy had the sole right of taxing themselves … as low as the restoration.
1774. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840), II. 108. This alliterative measure … remained in use so low as the sixteenth century.
1845. Stephen, Comm. Laws Eng. (1874), I. 64. These reached as low as the time of Pope Alexander the third.
5. Comb. Forming with ppl. adjs. used attrib. numerous quasi-compounds, usually hyphened; as low-bellowing, -bended, -bowed, -built, etc. Also † low-cast, (of a valley) deep; low-ebbed, lit. of waves, having ebbed to a low point; † fig. of persons, ‘at a low ebb,’ impoverished.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 505. A hollow moan … *low-bellowing round the hills.
1597. Bp. Hall, Sat., II. iii. 27. The crowching Client, with *low-bended knee … Tels on his tale.
1633. Ford, Broken H., III. v. With *low-bent thoughts Accusing such presumption.
1726–46. Thomson, Winter, 77. The low-bent clouds Pour flood on flood.
1872. A. de Vere, Leg. St. Patrick, Arraignm. St. P. Ceasing, he stood *Low-bowed, with hands upon his bosom crossed.
1592. Nashe, Summers Last Will (1600), I j b. This *lowe built house, will bring vs to our ends.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2625/4. Also a low-built Watch with a String, the Box Gilt.
1697. Creech, trans. Manilius, IV. 33. But hotter Climates narrower Frames obtain, And low-built Bodies are the growth of Spain.
1843. G. P. R. James, Forest Days (1847), 60. It was, in fact, a large, though low-built house.
1613–6. W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. v. A *low-cast valley.
1613. R. Zouche, Dove B. The *low-coucht Seas.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, IV. 591. Proud Buenos Aires, low-couched Paraguay.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 180. Like a black mist *low creeping.
1818. Keats, Endym., I. 257. Low-creeping strawberries.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., III. i. 43. *Low-crooked-curtsies, and base Spaniell fawning. Ibid. (1593), Lucr., 1705. May my pure mind with the fowle act dispence, My *low declined honor to aduance?
1625. Milton, Death Fair Infant, 32. Hid from the world in a *low delved tomb.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 720. Her pinions … *low-drooping, scarce Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade.
1735. Somerville, Chase, I. 251. Strait Hams … And his *low-dropping Chest confess his Speed.
1601. ? Marston, Pasquil & Kath., II. 119. Why, this same boy’s … A *low-eb’d gallant.
1820. Keats, Hyperion, II. 136. When the waves Low-ebb’d still hid it up in shallow gloom.
1830. Tennyson, Poems, 99. Keen knowledges of *low-embowed eld.
1633. Ford, Love’s Sacr., V. iii. Let thy smooth, *Low-fawning parasites renowne thy Act.
1830. Tennyson, Mermaid, 32. I would fling on each side my *low-flowing locks. Ibid. (1864), Aylmer’s F., 612. A breathless burthen of *low-folded heavens.
1883. Harper’s Mag., Oct., 726/2. He is *low-going, and a wide-goer behind.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 326. Masses of *low-growing plants.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., II. xxx. 246. The *low-hanging clouds.
1700. Dryden, Pal. & Arc., III. 863. Like a *low-hung cloud.
1902. Q. Rev., Oct., 484. The low-hung narrow-windowed mansion in Butcher Row.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 265. To *lowe-lybbyng men the larke is resembled.
1672. Dryden, Maiden Queen, V. i. You teach me to repent my *low-placed love.
1727. De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. ii. (1840), 43. The *low-prized learning of the magicians answered very well.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., IV. iv. Prol. 19. The … ouer-lustie French Doe the *low-rated English play at dice.
1895. Thomson & Thomas, Electr. Tab. & Mem., 15. A *low-reading voltmeter.
1826. Milman, A. Boleyn, 162. Ha! thou *low-rolling doubling drum—I hear thee!
1634. Milton, Comus, 315. Ere morrow wake, or the *low roosted lark From her thatch’t pallat rowse.
a. 1613. Overbury, Charact., Taylor, Wks. (1856), 78. He … raiseth the *low set roofe of his crosse-legged fortune.
1854. Mrs. Gaskell, North & S., x. Some trivial, *low-spoken remark.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 99. Slow Nile with *low-sunke streames shall keepe his braies.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 13. This low-sunk, wretched and deplorable Degeneracy of Soul.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., III. 507. Slender tributes *low-tax’d Nature pays For mighty gain.
1820. Shelley, Vision Sea, 12. The *low-trailing rack of the tempest.
b. With agent-nouns or nouns of action, as low-flyer, low-living, † -lying, † -riding.
1708. Mrs. Centlivre, Busie Body, I. i. 14. For then we are all thought to be … High-Flyers, or *Low-Flyers, or Levellers.
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 386. The claims made for their several methods by those who have enjoined high-living, *low-living, ‘vegetarianism.’
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., p. lxii. The *low-lying of the Head-springs of … this River.
1599. James I., Βασιλικον Δωρον, III. 121. Use … *lowe-ryding for handling of your sworde.
c. In comb. with another adv., as low-deep.
1595. Daniel, Civ. Wars, I. xcvii. Pry Into the lowe-deepe-buried sinnes long past.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 25. He … will not deny you grace, But low deep bury faults, so ye repent.
