An vs Cow - What's the difference?
an | cow |
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
(UK, non-standard) used in many British regional accents before some words beginning with a pronounced h
(archaic) If, so long as.
(archaic) as if; as though.
In each; to or for each; per.
A female domesticated ox or other bovine, especially an adult after she has had a calf.
More generally, any domestic bovine regardless of sex or age.
The meat of such animals as food (more commonly called beef).
The female of larger species of mammal, including bovines, moose, whales, seals, hippos, rhinos, manatees, and elephants.
(derogatory, informal) A woman who is considered despicable in some way, especially one considered to be fat, lazy, ugly, argumentative, mean or spiteful.
(informal) Anything that is annoyingly difficult, awkward or graceless.
(informal) A conniption fit or hissy fit; a state of agitation .
(mining) A wedge or brake to stop a machine or car; a chock.
To intimidate; to daunt the spirits or courage of.
* Shakespeare
(UK, dialect) A chimney cowl.
* 1836 , Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers ?
As a noun an
is favor, grace.As an acronym cow is
(computing).an
English
(wikipedia an)Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Article
(head)Usage notes
* The article (an) is used before vowel sounds and (optionally) before silent aitches, and (a) before consonant sounds. * The various article senses of (a), all are senses of (term).Etymology 2
From (etyl) anConjunction
(English Conjunctions)- An it please you, my lord.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge , The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere (Original Version of 1797) 61-64:
- At length did cross an Albatross, Thorough the Fog it came; And an it were a Christian Soul, We hail'd it in God's Name.
Etymology 3
.Etymology 4
From the (etyl) preposition an/on.Preposition
(English prepositions)- I was only going twenty miles an hour.
Usage notes
* This is the same as the word a'' in such contexts, modified because of preceding an unpronounced ''h''. ''The train was speeding along at a mile a minute.Synonyms
* perReferences
*Statistics
*cow
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia cow) (en-noun) (see usage notes)- That website is a real cow to navigate.
- (Knight)
Usage notes
The plural cows is the normal plural for multiple individuals, while cattle is used in a more collective sense. The umlaut plurals ky, kye and kine are archaic and no longer in common use.Synonyms
* bitch * bastard, bitch, bugger (UK)Antonyms
* (female domesticated ox or other bovine) bullSee also
* (meat) chicken, pig, pork, goat, lamb, muttonDerived terms
(terms derived from "cow") * cowboy * cow catcher, cowcatcher * cow corner * cowgirl * cowherd * cowmilk, cow milk * cowpoke * cowpool * cowpuncher * cowshed * cow shot * cow tipping * cash cow * have a cow * holy cow * sacred cowSee also
* * beef * bovine * bull * calf * cattle * heifer * steer * low * moo * ox * vealEtymology 2
Probably from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- Con artists are not cowed by the law.
- To vanquish a people already cowed .
Etymology 3
Noun
(en noun)- Who could live to gaze from day to day on bricks and slates, who had once felt the influence of a scene like this? Who could continue to exist, where there are no cows but the cows on the chimneypots; nothing redolent of Pan but pan-tiles;