I. cow 1 S2 /kaʊ/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: cu ]
1 . a large female animal that is kept on farms and used to produce milk or meat ⇨ bull
2 . a male or female animal of this type ⇨ bull :
a herd of cows
3 . the female of some large animals, such as the ↑ elephant or the ↑ whale ⇨ bull
4 . British English spoken not polite an offensive word for a woman who you think is stupid or unpleasant
5 . have a cow informal to be very angry or surprised about something
6 . till the cows come home informal for a very long time, or for ever
⇨ ↑ cash cow , ↑ mad cow disease , ↑ sacred cow
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COLLOCATIONS
■ types of cow
▪ dairy cows (=kept for their milk)
He keeps a herd of dairy cows.
▪ beef cows (=kept for their meat)
They are a well-known breed of beef cow.
■ verbs
▪ milk a cow (=get the milk from a cow)
Once a day, the cows are brought in to be milked.
▪ a cow moos (=makes a long low sound)
I could hear cows mooing in the barn.
▪ a cow grazes (=eats the grass)
Cows were grazing peacefully in the meadows.
▪ a cow calves (=produces a calf, a young cow)
At this time of year the cows are calving.
■ phrases
▪ a herd of cows (=a group that are together somewhere)
We had to wait while a farmer brought a herd of cows across the bridge.
II. cow 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive usually passive]
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: Probably from a Scandinavian language ]
to frighten someone in order to make them do something
cow somebody into something
The protesters had been cowed into submission by the police.