stow

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stouen, a verb formed from Middle English stowe (“place”),^[2][3][4][5] from Old English stōw (“place, spot, site”), common in place names.^[6][3][7] The noun is from Proto-Germanic *stōō,^[8][6] and is cognate with Old Frisian stō (“place”), Old Norse eldstó (“fireplace”) and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌰 (staua, “judgement”);^[8][4][3] the related verbs Middle Dutch stouwen (“to stow”), Old High German stouwen (“to stop, check; to accuse”), German stauen (“to stow”) and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌾𐌰𐌽 (stōjan, “to judge”) belong with it.^[5][9][3] Outside Germanic it is compared with Lithuanian stovėti (“to stand”),^[5][6][3] and it goes back to an extended form of Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), the root of stand.^[3][6][4] The OED notes a single Old English example of a verb, stouuigan, in the Corpus Glossary, where the meaning of the Latin word it glosses is obscure, but takes the Middle English verb to be a separate formation.^[4] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English instead take stow as a shortened form of bestow.^[10][7][11] Its nautical use was probably reinforced by Dutch stouwen (“to cram, pack close”).^{[6][12][7][10]}

Earliest recorded meaning

To put or place somewhere: Etymonline dates the verb to about 1300,^[6] the OED's first record is in Langland's Piers Plowman (1362),^[4] and Barnhart's in Cleanness, probably about 1380.^[3] The Middle English Dictionary already records it for lodging a person or animal and for packing gear in a ship.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The general sense "to place" was obsolete by the end of the 16th century.^[4][9] From the 15th century the verb meant to put something away to be stored.^[4][10][3] From 1555 it meant to stow cargo in a ship's hold, the sense in which Dutch stouwen probably reinforced it;^[4][6][12] sailors also stowed oars, guns and sails.^[4] In Othello Shakespeare has "where hast thou stow'd my daughter?", the sense of lodging a person, which became derogatory.^[7][13][4] From about 1440 to 1762 stow could also mean to spend money, like bestow.^[4][9] Thieves' cant had stow you, hold your peace, by about 1566, the source of the British slang stow it!, shut up.^[14][15] The phrase stow away, to hide, is recorded from 1795,^[3] and the noun stowaway, a person hiding on a ship, from the 19th century.^[10][12]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to put, place somewhere.^[6] The OED's first record is from 1362.^[4]
• c. 1440 – to spend or invest money (obsolete by 1762).^[4]
• c. 1485 – to put away in a receptacle to be stored.^[4]
• 1555 – to stow cargo in a ship.^[4]
• c. 1566 – stow you, be quiet, in thieves' cant.^[14]
• 1607 – to lodge or find room for people.^[4]
• 1644 – to furl a sail.^[4]
• 1795 – stow away, to put away out of sight.^[3]
• 1833 – jocularly, to eat a quantity of food.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pack or store something away, often with away: She stowed the camping gear in the loft.^[15][9][4]
2. (nautical) To put cargo, sails or other gear in their proper place on a ship; to fill a hold with cargo.^[15][4]
3. To find room or lodging for someone, often for a short time.^[9][4]
4. To have room for; to hold.^[15][4]
5. (British slang) To stop, usually in the imperative: Stow it!^[15][14]
6. (obsolete, 1362–1594) To put in a particular place.^[4][9]
7. (obsolete, c. 1440–1762) To spend or lay out money.^[4][9]

Word family

• stowable
• restow
• stowage
• unstow
• stow away

Related words

• bestow
• stowaway
• stand

Usage notes

A Scots and dialect verb stow, to crop or cut close (the ears of a sheep, the branches of a tree), recorded from 1513, has a separate source: the OED thinks it probably Scandinavian, related to Old Norse stúfr (“stump”),^[4] while the Shorter Oxford and Merriam-Webster call its origin unknown.^[7][9] In Shetland and Orkney stow was also an interjection meaning "hush!".^[16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)