bow-wow

Pluralbow-wows

Formsbow-wows, bow-wowing, bow-wowed

1. 1
   interjection

   An imitation of the barking sound made by a dog.

   Bow-wow, bow-wow! went the dog at every passing stranger.

   She read the story aloud, adding a cheerful 'bow-wow' on each page.

   Similarwoof, arf

   Note

   An imitated bark that has never had one fixed spelling. Shakespeare's The Tempest renders it bowgh-wawgh. Gabriel Harvey in 1593 wrote bawewawe and listed it among scoffing noises like tutt, tee-heegh, phy and poogh, the sounds people make at something they scorn. The word is onomatopoeic, and every later use of bow-wow, from the nursery name to the pompous style, starts from this copied bark.

2. 2
   nounchildishhumorouscountable

   A humorous or childish name for a dog.

   She scooped up the yapping bow-wow and tucked it under her arm.

   A pair of muddy bow-wows bounded across the yard to greet us.

   Similardoggy, pooch, mutt

   Note

   A nursery word that adults borrow for fun. Ogden Nash's grandchild calls dogs Bow-wows and turkeys Gobbles, by the same toddler logic that makes a cow a Moo-moo: the animal is named for its noise. Grown-ups use it fondly or teasingly, as Theodore Roosevelt does in a 1902 letter to Kermit Roosevelt about "a very nice small bow-wow." In neutral writing, plain dog is the safer choice.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The barking sound produced by a dog.

   A sharp bow-wow echoed down the empty street at midnight.

   She recognized the familiar bow-wow of the neighbor's terrier through the wall.

   Similarbark, woof

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To make the sound of a dog; to bark.

   The hounds bow-wow loudly the moment a stranger approaches the gate.

   He taught the parrot to bow-wow like a terrier whenever it was hungry.

   Similarbark, woof, yap

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