3 zo> B O 
Rather let my head 
Stoop to the block, than thefe knees bow to any, 
Save to the God of heav’n, and to my king. Skak'fp. 
To (loop.—The people bowed down upon their knees to 
drink. Judges. —To fink under preffure.—They (hoop, 
they bow down together; they could not deliver the bur¬ 
den. Ifaiah , xlvi. i. 
BOW,/. An adt of reverence or fubmiflioR, by bending 
the body. Pronounced like the verb, as now, hotv 
Some clergy too file would allow, 
Nor quarrel’d at their aukward bow. Swift. 
“ Better to Bow than to break.” Fr. Ilvnut miltix plier 
qu< rotilpre. Ital. Vel meglio picgafi the romperfi. That is, 
it is better to fubmit to the will or opinion of another, than, 
by obftinately perfift'ing in our own, to break off or ruin 
any tranfaftion or undertaking, though even in this the 
confequehces are to be confidered, before we give way to 
what may be ot prejudice to ourfelves or others. 
BOW,/ [pronounced as grow, no, Id, without any re¬ 
gard to the a/.] An inftrument of war, made by holding 
wood or metal bent with a firing, which, by its fpring, 
fhoots arrows with great force.—Take, I pray thee, thy 
Weapons, thy quiver, and thy bow, and go out to the field, 
and take me fome venifon. Genejis.- —A rainbow.—I do fet 
my bow in the cloud, and it (hall be for a token of a cove¬ 
nant between me and the earth. Gen. ix. 13.—The infiru- 
mcnt with which firing-inftrumentsareftruck; afiddle-ftick: 
Their infiruments were various in their kind ; 
Some for the bow, and fome for breathing wind: 
The fwatry, pipe, and hautboy’s noify band, 
And the foft lute trembling beneath the touching hand. 
Dry den. 
The doubling of a firing in a flip-knot. This is perhaps 
corruptly ufed for bought. —Make a knot, and let the fe- 
Cond knot be with a bow. Wffeman. —A yoke.—As the ox 
hath his bow, the horfe his curb, and the faulcon his bells, 
fo man hath his defire. Shakefpeare. 
BOW of a Saddle. The bows of a faddle are two pie¬ 
ces of wood laid archwife, to receive the upper part of a 
horfe’s back, to give the faddle its due form, and to keep 
it tight, 
BOW of Steel, or Cross-bow,/. A weapon of war, 
prohibited by fiat. 33 Hen. VIII. c. 6, except to perfons 
poflefling one hundr ed pounds per annum. As a weapon, 
the bow is confeffedly the mod ancient of all others. It is 
even found to obtain among the mod barbarous and remote 
people, who have had the leafi: communication with the 
reft of mankind. The art of ufing the bow is called ar¬ 
chery, and thofe pradtifed therein, archers, or bowmen. The 
ftrength of a bow may be calculated on this principle, that 
its fpring, i. e. the power whereby it reftores itfelf to its, 
natural pofition, is always proportionate to the difiance or 
fpace it is removed primarily from. The invention of 
the bow is ufually afcribed to Apollo, and was communi¬ 
cated to the primitive inhabitants of Crete, who are faid to 
have been the firft of mortals who understood the ufe of 
bows and arrrows. And hence, even in latter ages, the 
Cretan bows were famous, and preferred by the Greeks 
to all others. Some, however, rather choofe to honour 
Perfes, the fon of Perfeus, with the invention of the bow ; 
while others afcribe it to Scythes, fon of Jupiter, and pro¬ 
genitor to the Scythians, who were excellent at this art, 
and by many reputed the firft mafters of it. The Indians, 
and perhaps all favage nations without exception, Hill re¬ 
tain the bow. For correct: figures of the different kinds of 
bows and arrows, and the period in which they were chiefly 
in ufe in the armies of England and other countries, fee 
Archery, vol. ii. p. 48, &c. 
“ A Bow long bent grows weak at laft.” Arcus nimis 
intenjus rumpitur. Lat. L'arcofi rompefeJla troppo t.tfo. It. 
This may be applied either to the body or the mind ; for 
too much labour weakens the one, and too much ftudy im¬ 
pairs the other : 
W. 
Olia corpus aldnt, ahiirtUs qudque pafcitur iltii. 
Immodicus , contra, carpit, utrumque labor. 
This proverb is likevvife applicable to inanimate bodies,- for 
whatever is drained beyond its ftrength' will fuller. The 
Germans fav, Wen man den bogcn zu hartc fpannt Jo bricht er; 
the Italians, Chi troppo P ajjotiglia, la Jpezza. ‘Strain a 
thing too much, and it will break.’ 
“ He has two firings to his Bow.” 11 a deux cordcs et 
fon arc. Fr. The Latins fay, Dvabus anchor is nicilu. ‘He 
is moored with two anchors.' The Germans, Er hat eine 
fuk-muhlc. ‘He has got a pocket-mill.’ The Spaniards fay, 
Mus valendos cam fonts quc uno. ‘ T wo frocks are better than 
one.’ Spoken when a man has more than one dependence. 
BOW,/ Among artificers, an inftrument fo called from 
its figure ; in ufe among gunfmiths, lockfmiths, watch¬ 
makers, &c. for making a drill go. Among turners it is 
the name of that pole fixed to the ceiling, to which they 
fallen the cord that whirls round the piece to be turned. 
BOW,/ in fhip-building, the rounding part of R (hip's 
fide forward, beginning at the place where the planks arch 
inwards; and terminated where they clofe, at the ftem or 
prow. It is proved by a variety of experiments, that a 
ftiip with a narrow bow is much better calculated for fail¬ 
ing fwiftly, than one with a broad bow ; but is not fo well 
fitted for high feas, into which (he always pitches or 
plunges her fore-part very deep, for want of fufficient 
breadth to repel the volume cf water which (lie fo eafilv 
divides in her fall. The former of thefe is called by fea”- 
men a lean, and the other a bluff, or bold, bow. “ The bow 
which meets with the leafi refiftance in a diredt courle, not 
only meets with the lead refiftance in oblique courles, but 
alfo lias the additional property of driving the lead to lee¬ 
ward ; which is a double advantage gained by forming the 
bow fo as to give it that figure which will be lead redded 
in moving through any medium.” Bougner. 
On the BOW, in navigation, an arch of the horizon com¬ 
prehended between fome diftant objedt and that point of 
the compafs which is right a-head, or to which the (hip’s 
ftern is diredted. This phrafe is equally applicable when 
the objedt is beheld from the (hip, or difeovered by trigo¬ 
nometrical calculation : as, we faw a fleet at day-break 
bearing three points on the ftarboard-bow : that is, three 
points from that part of the horizon which is right a-head, 
towards the right head. 
BOW,/ A mathematical inftrument formerly ufed at 
fea for taking the fun’s altitude. It confided of a large 
arch divided into ninety degrees, fixed on a ftaff, and fur- 
niftied with three vanes, viz', a fide vane, a fight vane, and 
a horizon vane. 
BOW, or Stratford-le-Bow, a town three miles 
eaft from London. Its bridge over the river Lea to Effex 
was faid to be built by Maud, wife of Henry I. though 
others make it as old as the reign of Alfred, whofe arms 
are carved on the centre-done on the left-hand from Lon-i 
don, and call it the firft ftone-bridge built in England. It 
is faid to have been named Bow, from the (lope of the 
arches of this bridge. It had formerly a nunnery. Its 
church, built by Henry II. was a chapel of eafe to Step¬ 
ney, and was made parochial in 1740. Some years ago a 
large mapufadtory of porcelain waseftabliftied here. Large 
quantities of tea-equipages, plates, difhes, tureens, &c. 
were made at this place; but it lias been for fome time 
difeontinued. Here is a fair, attended by a .vaft concourfe 
of people from London, on the Thurfday in Whitfu-n-week. 
BOW, an ifland of Ireland, in Lough Erne, in the coun- 
ty of Fermanagh : fifteen miles weft-north-weft of Enni- 
(killen. 
BOW, an iftand in the South Pacific ocean, about ten 
leagues in circumference, Lat. 18.23. S. Ion. 141. W, 
Greenwich. 
BOW-BEARER, /. An under officer of the for eft, 
whofe office is to underfee, and true inquifition make* as 
well of fworn men as unfworn, in every bailiwic of the fo- 
reft ; and of all manner of trefpaffes done, either to vert 
or venifon, 3 nd caufe them to be prefented, without any 
concealment, 
