bow1
verbVerb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbspresent simple I / you / we / they bow | |
he / she / it bows | |
past simple bowed | |
past participle bowed | |
-ing form bowing |
- [intransitive]
to move your head or the top half of your body forwards and downwards as a sign of respect or to say hello or goodbye 鞠躬;点头 - bow (to/before somebody/something)
He bowed low to the assembled crowd. 他向集结的人群深深地鞠了一躬。 - bow down (to/before somebody/something)
The people all bowed down before the emperor. 全体给皇帝鞠躬。
Extra ExamplesHe swept off his hat and bowed deeply to the queen. 他脱帽向女王深深地鞠了一躬。 The emperor's subjects bowed down before him. 臣民在皇帝面前躬身行礼。 The pianist stood up and bowed to the audience. 钢琴家站起来向观众鞠躬。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- deeply
- low
- slightly
- …
- before
- to
- bow (to/before somebody/something)
- [transitive] bow your head
to move your head forwards and downwards 低(头);垂(首) - [intransitive, transitive]
to bend or make something bend (使)弯曲
Word OriginOld English būgan ‘bend, stoop’, of Germanic origin; related to German biegen, also to bow2. Bow of a boat/ship is late Middle English: from Low German boog, Dutch boeg, ‘shoulder or ship's bow’; related to bough.
Idioms
bow and scrape
- (disapproving)
to be too polite to an important person in order to gain their approval 卑躬屈膝;点头哈腰 She was beginning to tire of all their bowing and scraping. 她开始厌倦他们所有的点头哈腰。