bowing

• (bending at the waist): IPA^(key): /ˈbaʊɪŋ/

  • Audio (US) /ˈbaʊɪŋ/

    (file)

• (becoming bent; playing a string instrument):
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊɪŋ/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊɪŋ/
  • Rhymes: -əʊɪŋ
• Hyphenation: bow‧ing

bowing

1. present participle and gerund of bow (all senses)

bowing (countable and uncountable, plural bowings)

1. The act of bending at the waist, as a sign of respect or greeting.

   The courtier had practiced his bowing.

2. A bending.

   The heavy books caused a bowing in the shelf.

3. A technique for using the bow on a string instrument such as a violin.
   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 461:

     The bowing arm, the fingers on the strings, and then the violin itself polished brown, and the soloist's chin pillowed on it.

• bowing and scraping

• bowingly