yowe

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English yowe, yeue, forms of ewe, from Old English eowu. Compare Scots cognate yowe.

Alternative forms

• yeo, yoe, yow

Noun

yowe (plural yowes)

1. (dialect, UK, Scotland) A ewe; a female sheep.
   • 1902, James Thomson, Recollections of a Speyside parish:

     The ram was marked wi' keel at the reet o' the tail an' the yowes upon their hips.

Etymology 2

Pronoun

yowe

1. Obsolete form of you.

Anagrams

• yeow

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

yowe

1. Alternative form of ewe

Etymology 2

Pronoun

yowe

1. Alternative form of yow
   • 1440, Letter, in: 1841, Joseph Stevenson (editor), The Correspondence, Inventories, Account Rolls, and Law Proceedings of the Priory of Coldingham, page 116:

     Wirshipfull sir, I commend me to yowe; thankyng yowe of all tendirnesse and labour of lang time shewid to my brether and our cell of Coldyngham, prayand yowe of yowr goode continuance.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English ewe, from Old English eowu, from Proto-Germanic *awiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis (“sheep”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [jʌu]

Noun

yowe (plural yowes)

1. ewe (female sheep)
   • 1794, Robert Burns, The Highland Widow's Lament:

     And there I had three score o' yowes, / Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! / Skipping on yon bonie knowes, / And casting woo' to me.

     And there I had three score of ewes (sixty), / Alas, alas, alack! / Skipping on the beautiful knolls yonder, / And providing wool for me.

Coordinate terms

• tuip (“ram”)

Derived terms

• fir-yowe (“fir cone”)
• great-yowe (“ewe in lamb”)
• yowie (diminutive)

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Noun

yowe (ma class, plural mayowe)

1. shout (a loud burst of voice)

   Acha kupiga mayowe

   Don't shout

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English yowe, from Old English eowu, from Proto-West Germanic *awi, from Proto-Germanic *awiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juː/
• Homophone: yew

Noun

yowe

1. ewe; a female sheep

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 80