Lowed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Emitted the characteristic deep, prolonged sound made by cattle; produced a low, mournful noise; expressed a deep, resonant vocalization
2. Made the typical bellowing sound associated with cows; uttered a loud, low-pitched cry; voiced a rich, continuous moo-like noise
3. Generated the familiar deep, sustained call of bovines; gave out a resonant, somber sound; delivered a prolonged, low-frequency vocal expression

Etymology: "Lowed" is the past tense of "low," the verb for the deep call a cow makes. The verb is an Old English word, "hlōwan," and the sound it names is imitative, which is why it shares a root with a surprising range of words: "lowing" once simply meant the lowing of cattle, so the same verb covers both the animal's bellow and the sound of the sea in the old poetry of the lowing herd. The verb itself descends from a Germanic root, "*ligjaną," meaning "to lie" or "to lead," and that is where its family gets wide. The same root gave English "lie" and "lay," and the source's cognates reach across Europe: Latin "lectus" ("bed") and Ancient Greek "lékhomai" ("to lie down") are cousins, as are Russian "ležátʹ" and Polish "leżeć," both meaning "to lie." The word for a cow's call and the word for lying down are distant relatives, sharing an ancient sense of stretching out or settling low.

Synonyms: mooed, bellowed, roared, moo