meows

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of meow.

   A chorus of meows greeted the shelter volunteer each morning.

   Her insistent meows grew louder as the dinner hour approached.

   Note

   Only the cat's cry makes a plural. In UK slang the same noun names the drug mephedrone, but that use is uncountable, so a plural almost always means cats rather than the drug. The spelling is shared with the verb form. A determiner or possessive marks the noun (her meows, a chorus of meows), while a subject before it marks the verb (the cat meows).

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of meow.

   Whenever the bag rustles, the older cat meows expectantly.

   She meows softly to be let onto the windowsill in the morning.

   Note

   A verb that takes no object: a cat meows, but it does not meow anything. Whatever the cat wants is added with a preposition or an infinitive, as in meows at the door, meows for its dinner, or meows to be let in. The subject is normally the cat itself. After a singular subject this -s form is the verb, not the plural of the cry.

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