I. intransitive verb
or lour ˈlau̇(ə)r, -au̇ə, esp in the South -au̇wə(r; sometimes ˈlō(ə)r or ˈlōə
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English louren; akin to Middle Dutch loeren to lie in wait, watch, Middle High German lūren
1. : to look sullen : frown
lowering at the pavement — G.B.Shaw
2.
a. : to be dark, gloomy, and threatening
the clouds lower
b. : to become covered with dark and threatening clouds
a rising wind and lowering sky
c. : to show threatening signs of approach
dark lowers the tempest overhead — H.W.Longfellow
great thunderheads lowering as they came — Mary Austin
3. archaic : to lie in wait
II. noun
or lour “
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English lour, from louren, v.
: a lowering look ; also : a lowering or gloomy sky or aspect of weather
III. ˈlō(ə)r, -ōə adjective
Etymology: from lower, compar. of low (IV)
1. : relatively low in position, amount, or degree
a lower berth
a lower estimate
a lower boiling point
2.
a. : being or relating to something or someone of popular or inferior origin or rank
the lower chamber of a legislative body
lower officeholders
b. : less differentiated in structure : less highly advanced in the scale of development through evolution
the lower animals
lower organisms
c. also low : of or relating to a phase of an educational system that must be completed before the next one is entered
lower school
lower division
lower freshmen
3.
a.
(1) : situated or regarded as being situated below the level of another part or place
the lower middle class
the lower settlements
(2) : situated or believed to be situated beneath the surface of the earth
the lower world
(3) : being the southern part of an area
the center of the financial district in lower Manhattan — Current Biography
the lower South
b. usually capitalized : being an earlier epoch or series of the period or system named
Lower Carboniferous
Lower Cretaceous
Lower Permian
Lower Silurian
— contrasted with Upper
c. : farther from the source
the lower Nile
the lower Mississippi
d. usually capitalized : living on lower ground, not so far inland, farther downstream, or farther south than others of the same group
the Lower Creek
4. : more recent
assigns a lower date for this event
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
intransitive verb
1. : to move to a lower level : descend to a lower stage : let oneself down
came and lowered by her — A.B.Guthrie
the river lowered as rapidly as it rose
2. : to diminish or decrease in value, amount, intensity, or degree
predicted that prices would gradually lower
voice lowered into the sound of rain — James Still
3. : to lower a boat or sail
lowered for a bull sperm whale — H.A.Chippendale
— often used with away
as you lower away, you can gather the jib as it comes down — Peter Heaton
transitive verb
1.
a. : to let descend by its own weight : let down
lower a bucket
lower a sail
into this the general lowered his portly form — D.G.Gerahty
b. : to depress as to direction
lower the aim of a gun
c.
(1) : to depress the surface of (as by carving, scraping)
(2) : to remove (a part) in so doing
d. : to reduce the height of
lower a wall
2.
a. : to reduce in value or amount
lower the price of goods
lower the rate of interest
b.
(1) : to bring down in quality, character, or reputation : degrade
lowered himself by his actions
novels and tales likely to lower taste — Times Literary, Supplement
(2) : abase , humble : bring down in rank
lowered the proud grandees and exalted the commoners
c. : to make less elevated as to objective
lowered his aspirations
— often used in the phrase lower one's sights
nothing would be more fatal … than to lower our sights — J.B.Conant
3.
a. : to move (the tongue) down away from the palate
b. : to replace (a sound) with an allophone or phoneme of lower tongue position
ē was lowered to i before r
•
- lower the boom
V. noun
( -s )
: the lower member of a pair: as
a. : a lower berth
b. : a lower denture