Part 772

4. The U-shaped piece which embraces the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.

5. (Mus.) An appliance consisting of an elastic rod, with a number of horse hairs stretched from end to end of it, used in playing on a stringed instrument.

6. An arcograph.

7. (Mech. & Manuf.) Any instrument consisting of an elastic rod, with ends connected by a string, employed for giving reciprocating motion to a drill, or for preparing and arranging the hair, fur, etc., used by hatters.

8. (Naut.) A rude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.

9. (Saddlery) sing. or pl. Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddletree.

Bow bearer (O. Eng. Law), an under officer of the forest who looked after trespassers. -- Bow drill, a drill worked by a bow and string. -- Bow instrument (Mus.), any stringed instrument from which the tones are produced by the bow. -- Bow window (Arch.) See Bay window. -- To draw a long bow, to lie; to exaggerate. [Colloq.]

Bow (b), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bowed (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Bowing.] To play (music) with a bow. -- v. i. To manage the bow.

Bow (b), n. [Icel. bgr shoulder, bow of a ship. See Bough.]

1. (Naut.) The bending or rounded part of a ship forward; the stream or prow.

2. (Naut.) One who rows in the forward part of a boat; the bow oar.

Bow chaser (Naut.), a gun in the bow for firing while chasing another vessel. Totten.

- Bow piece, a piece of ordnance carried at the bow of a ship. -- On the bow (Naut.), on that part of the horizon within 45° on either side of the line ahead. Totten.

Bow"a*ble (&?;), a. Capable of being bowed or bent; flexible; easily influenced; yielding. [Obs.]

Bow"bell` (&?;), n. One born within hearing distance of Bow-bells; a cockney. Halliwell.

Bow"-bells` (&?;), n. pl. The bells of Bow Church in London; cockneydom.

People born within the sound of Bow-bells are usually called cockneys. Murray's Handbook of London.

Bow"bent` (&?;), a. Bent, like a bow. Milton.

Bow"-com`pass (&?;), n.; pl. Bow-compasses (&?;).

1. An arcograph.

2. A small pair of compasses, one leg of which carries a pencil, or a pen, for drawing circles. Its legs are often connected by a bow-shaped spring, instead of by a joint.

3. A pair of compasses, with a bow or arched plate riveted to one of the legs, and passing through the other.

Bow"el (?), n. [OE. bouel, bouele, OF. boel, boele, F. boyau, fr. L. botellus a small sausage, in LL. also intestine, dim. of L. botulus sausage.]

1. One of the intestines of an animal; an entrail, especially of man; a gut; -- generally used in the plural.

He burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Acts i. 18.

2. pl. Hence, figuratively: The interior part of anything; as, the bowels of the earth.

His soldiers . . . cried out amain, And rushed into the bowels of the battle. Shak.

3. pl. The seat of pity or kindness. Hence: Tenderness; compassion. "Thou thing of no bowels." Shak.