Definition of "mow"

mow¹

/məʊ/

verb
third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past mowed, past participle mowed or mown
1. (transitive) To cut down grass or crops.
2. (transitive, often with through) To cut down or slaughter in great numbers.
  Quotations
  In the afternoon they attacked again, in close formation: our artillery mowed them, but they came on and on, […]
  1915, Captain Robert Palmer, Letters from Mesopotamia
  On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support.
  2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!‎, archived from the original on 4 July 2022
noun
plural mows
1. The act of mowing (a garden, grass, etc.).
2. (cricket) A shot played with a sweeping or scythe-like motion.
  Quotations
  I consider it would engender a stiff, tame, cautious mode of play, with only now and then a mow, or a chopping hit.
  1828, Sporting Magazine (volume 21? 71? page 10)
  At times, they seemed to be playing an especially orgiastic version of Stick Cricket, all computerised mows over midwicket and 30 off the over.
  2015, Lawrence Booth, The Shorter Wisden 2015

mow²

/məʊ/

noun
plural mows
1. (now only dialectal) A scornful grimace; a wry face.
  Quotations
  Those that paint them dying […] delineate the prisoners spitting in their executioners faces, and making mowes at them.
  1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]
  Make mows at him.
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]
verb
third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past and past participle mowed
1. To make grimaces, mock.
  Quotations
  For every trifle are they set upon me: / Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, / And after bite me;
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]
  Nodding, becking, and mowing.
  1848, William Tyndale, edited by Henry Walter, Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scriptures

mow³

/maʊ̯/

noun
plural mows
1. (now regional) A stack of hay, corn, beans or a barn for the storage of hay, corn, beans.
2. The place in a barn where hay or grain in the sheaf is stowed.
verb
third-person singular simple present mows, present participle mowing, simple past and past participle mowed
1. (agriculture) To put into mows.

mow⁴

noun
plural mows
1. Alternative form of mew (a seagull)