Etimology
From Middle English lowe, lohe, lāh, from Old Norse lágr (“low”), from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz (“lying, flat, situated near the ground, low”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”). Cognate with Scots laich (“low”), Low German leeg (“low, feeble, bad”), Danish lav (“low”), Icelandic lágur (“low”), West Frisian leech (“low”), North Frisian leeg, liig (“low”), Dutch laag (“low”), obsolete German läg (“low”). More at lie.
adjective
low (comparative lower, superlative lowest)
Situated close to, or even below, the ground or another normal reference plane; not high or lofty.
Of less than normal height or upward extent or growth, or of greater than normal depth or recession; below the average or normal level from which elevation is measured.
Not high in status, esteem, or rank, dignity, or quality. (Compare vulgar.)
Humble, meek, not haughty.
Disparaging; assigning little value or excellence.
Being a nadir, a bottom.
Depressed in mood, dejected, sad.
Lacking health or vitality, strength or vivacity; feeble; weak.
Dead. (Compare lay low.)
Small, not high (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
(especially in biology) Simple in complexity or development.
(chiefly in several set phrases) Favoring simplicity (see e.g. low church, Low Tory).
(in several set phrases) Being near the equator.
(acoustics) Grave in pitch, due to being produced by relatively slow vibrations (wave oscillations); flat.
Quiet; soft; not loud.
(phonetics) Made with a relatively large opening between the tongue and the palate; made with (part of) the tongue positioned low in the mouth, relative to the palate.
(card games) Lesser in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.
(now rare) Not rich or seasoned; offering the minimum of nutritional requirements; plain, simple. [from 17th c.]
(of an automobile, gear, etc) Designed for a slow (or the slowest) speed.
Examples
standing on low ground in a low valley, ringed by low hills a low wall a low shelf
Narrative friezes in low relief were characteristic of Ionic architecture.
the low countries
Low German
the pitch was low
a low bow a low tide the Mississippi is unusually low right now
It is a little low hearb […]
The men are well-proportioned, rather low than tall, have a brown complexion, and reserved countenance.
"Now you mention her, I do remember the young lady," said Mrs. Grantly; "a dark girl, very low, and without much figure. She seemed to me to keep very much in the background."
Again, observe the unmeaningness of the low neck fashion. Our mothers wore low dresses and bare arms all day long; they knew if their shoulders and arms were beautiful they would look as well by daylight as by candlelight; […]
Why do girls wear low dresses?
low birth low rank the low officials of the bureaucracy low-quality fabric playing low tricks on them a person of low mind
Now that was low even for you!
Therefore they must have been common in the 16th century also among the folk first of all not as a high festival food but rather as a low festival and Sunday food, if our experience proves accurate.
Low-Sunday, is the Sunday after Easter, and is so call'd, because it is a low Festival in Comparison of that Day whereon Christ arose from Death to Life again.
God loves an humble soul. It is not our high birth, but our low hearts God delights in.
She had a low opinion of cats. He took a low view of dogs.
The humble soul has low thoughts of his own person; as David, 'I am a worm, and no man.'
the low point in her career
Virginia, for example, reached such a low point in her junior year that she briefly considered suicide [...]
low spirits
As low as I felt, at least I didn't have Hunding's [miserable] job.
a low pulse
made low by sickness
And wilt thou weep when I am low?
[L]et the mournful martial music blow; / The last great Englishman is low.
My credit union charges a low interest rate. Jogging during a whiteout, with such low temperatures and low visibility, is dangerous. The store sold bread at low prices, and milk at even lower prices. The contractors gave a low estimate of the costs. low cholesterol a low voltage wire a low number
Unfortunately, low winds were the rule over the local waters and this craft was no better, if as good, as ordinary sailboats under such conditions.
The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
diets low in vitamin A
made from low-carbon steel
running low on cash
When silica is in low supply other classes of algae dominate the phytoplankton composition.
low protozoan animals, low cryptogamic plants, and other low organisms
In the case of languages spoken by very low races, like the Puris and the Tasmanians, the difficulty of deciding such a point must be very great.
Among them there was none more low, more pious, more sincere, or more given to interference. To teach Mr. Worth his duty as a parish clergyman was evidently a necessity to such a bishop.
[…] and give a judgment against not only Denison, but the Church's doctrine; and that, it having once been given, we shall not get it reversed; and that the Church of England will seem to be committed to Low doctrine, which […]
the low northern latitudes
The note was too low for her to sing.
Generally, European men have lower voices than their Indian counterparts.
They spoke in low voices so I would not hear what they were saying.
Why would you want to play heavy metal at such a low volume?
Speak low if you speak love.
a low card
The Physicians ordered a low diet, and cooling ptisans in great abundance.
low gear
Related words
synonyms
(in a position comparatively close to the ground): nether, underslung
(small in height): short, small
(depressed): blue, depressed, down, miserable, sad, unhappy, gloomy
(not high in an amount): reduced, devalued, low-level
(of a pitch, suggesting a lower frequency): low-pitched, deep, flat
(of a loudness, suggesting a lower amplitude): low-toned, soft
(despicable thing to do): immoral, abject, scummy, scurvy
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "in a position comparatively close to the ground"): high
(antonym(s) of "small in length"): tall
related terms
below
noun
low (plural lows)
A low point or position, literally (as, a depth) or or figuratively (as, a nadir, a time when things are at their worst, least, minimum, etc).
A period of depression; a depressed mood or situation.
(meteorology, informal) An area of low pressure; a depression.
The lowest-speed gearing of a power-transmission system, especially of an automotive vehicle.
(card games) The lowest trump, usually the deuce; the lowest trump dealt or drawn.
(slang, usually accompanied by "the") A cheap, cost-efficient, or advantageous price.
Examples
You have achieved a new low in behavior, Frank.
Economic growth has hit a new low.
Unemployment has reached a ten-year low.
During the 1960s and 1970s, when both the quality of architecture and the appreciation of historic buildings reached an all-time low, British Railways was notorious for replacing good station buildings and canopies with little more than bus shelters, usually in conjunction with de-staffing.
He also called for the US and China to rebuild their fractured relationship, which has plunged to new lows this year, but which Guterres said was “crucial” to climate action.
Today's low was 32 °F.
He is in a low right now. the highs and lows of bipolar disorder
A deep low is centred over the British Isles.
Shift out of low before the car gets to eight miles per hour.
He got the brand new Yankees jersey for the low.
adverb
low (comparative lower, superlative lowest)
Close to the ground.
Of a pitch, at a lower frequency.
With a low voice or sound; not loudly; gently.
Under the usual price; at a moderate price; cheaply.
In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.
In a time approaching our own.
(astronomy) In a path near the equator, so that the declination is small, or near the horizon, so that the altitude is small; said of the heavenly bodies with reference to the diurnal revolution.
Examples
Can sing both high and low.
to speak low
[T]he amorous, odorous wind, / Breathes low between the sunset and the moon, […]
He sold his wheat low.
But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.
In that part of the world which was first inhabited, […] even as low down as Abraham's time, they wandered with their flocks and herds.
The moon runs low, i.e. comparatively near the horizon when on or near the meridian.
verb
low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)
(obsolete, transitive) To lower; to make low.
Examples
I shall only say this, that all the other graces must low the sail to faith, and so it is faith must carry us through, being that last triumphing grace, […]
Now to use these as Hypotheseis, as himself in his Word, is pleas'd to low himself to our capacities, is allowable:
The merry fowks that were the ben, / By this time 'gan to low their strain
She was quite free of bad inventions, / But was a bitch o high pretenfions, / For the grit folk o' a dimensions, / Ran for her breed; / Dog-officers may low their pensions, / Since Venie's dead, 'Twas past the art o'man to cure her, / […]
Dat 'ill be somtin' ta hise an' low wi' a ütterly breeze.
Etimology
From Middle English lough, from Old English hlōh, first and third person singular preterite of hliehhan (“to laugh”). More at laugh.
verb
low
(obsolete) simple past of laugh.
Etimology
From Middle English lowen (“to low”), from Old English hlōwan (“to low, bellow, roar”), from Proto-Germanic *hlōaną (“to call, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call”). Cognate with Dutch loeien (“to low”), Middle High German lüejen (“to roar”), dialectal Swedish lumma (“to roar”), Latin calō (“I call”), Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō), Latin clāmō (“I shout, claim”). More at claim.
verb
low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)
(intransitive) To moo.
Examples
The cattle were lowing.
In peals of thunder now she roars--and now / She gently whimpers like a lowing cow
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.
It would have been a great privilege to be the mistress of an old time-honoured mansion, to call oaks and elms her own, to know that acres of gardens were submitted to her caprices, to look at herds of cows and oxen, and be aware that they lowed on her own pastures.
Etimology
From Middle English lowe, loghe, from Old Norse logi (“fire, flame, sword”), from Proto-Germanic *lugô (“flame, blaze”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“light”). Cognate with Icelandic logi (“flame”), Swedish låga (“flame”), Danish lue (“flame”), German Lohe (“blaze, flames”), North Frisian leag (“fire, flame”), Old English līeġ (“fire, flame, lightning”). More at leye, light.
noun
low (plural lows)
(countable, UK, Scotland, dialect) A flame; fire; blaze.
Examples
She was, as one of them expressed himself, in a light low when they observed a king's ship, with her colours up, heave in sight from behind the cape. The guns of the burning vessel discharged themselves […]
A boy fell aff his chair a' in a low, for the discharge had set him on fire […]
[…] and he was sure to light of a verse blazing wi' a blue brimstone low that set all straight.
verb
low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)
(UK, Scotland, dialect) To burn; to blaze.
Examples
Driest wood will eithest low,
They scarcely left to co'er their fuds, To quench their lowan drouth.
[…] in every crevice; and each individual brick shone and “lowed” with the intense heat. “As I am a Christian man,” thought he, “this is verily the mouth of the pit; and I am lost — lost for ever, for —”
Sand, striking a light with his flint and steel, and transferring the flame when it lowed up to the bowl of his tiny elf's pipe, so small that it just let in the top of his little finger as he settled the tobacco in it as it began to burn.
The next I saw, James parried a thrust so nearly that I thought him killed; and it lowed up in my mind that this was the girl's father, and in a manner almost my own, and I drew and ran in to sever them.
Etimology
From Old English hlāw, hlǣw (“burial mound”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlaiw. Obsolete by the 19th century, survives in toponymy as -low.
noun
low (plural lows)
(archaic or obsolete) Barrow, mound, tumulus.
(Scottish dialectal, archaic) A hill.
Examples
A barrow or Low, such as were usually cast up over the bodies of eminent Captains.
And some they brought the brown lint-seed, and flung it down from the Low.
Etimology
Aphetic form of allow.
verb
low
Alternative form of 'low