mower

Etymology

It is formed from English mow + -er.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb mow is from Old English māwan (“to cut grass with a scythe”),^[3][7] from Proto-Germanic *mēaną, also the source of maaien and mähen and of Old English mǣd (“meadow”).^[3] In later use the sense "mowing machine" is short for lawnmower.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who cuts grass with a scythe: the OED's first record is from 1225, as a surname.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 14th century,^[3] the 1989 edition of the OED to about 1440,^[8] and Dictionary.com to 1400–50.^[9]

Semantic evolution

For six centuries a mower was a person who mowed hay or grass with a scythe;^[2][3] in the 16th century the phrase no meat for mowers meant something beyond the reach of the common people.^[2] The machine sense followed the invention of mowing machines: the OED's first record is from 1851, Etymonline's from 1852,^[2][3] and the word now usually means a lawnmower.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1225 – a person who mows grass with a scythe (first as a surname).^[2]
• 1542 – no meat for mowers, not for the common people (until 1583).^[2]
• 1851 – a mowing machine; now usually a lawnmower.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A machine for cutting grass, especially a lawnmower: He left the mower out in the rain.^[5][2][4]
2. A farm machine for cutting standing grass or grain, such as hay.^[4][2]
3. A person who mows grass, especially with a scythe.^[2][5]

Related words

• mow
• meadow
• lawnmower

Usage notes

Several other words mower are recorded only in early or special use: a person who stacked hay in mows (1269–1475), from mow in the sense of a heap of hay; a person who pulled faces, a mocker (1440–1622), from mow, to grimace; and, in 17th-century thieves' slang, a cow.^[2][10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com