Stow Meaning
/stoʊ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA place, stead.
verbTo put something away in a compact and tidy manner, in its proper place, or in a suitable place.
Sentence Examples
Stow away carefully the clothes you removed.
Always stow your trash for disposal in port.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Before the ship departed, the crew had to ____ all the cargo in the lower hold.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You need to ____ your suitcases in the overhead compartment before the plane can take off safely.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English stowe, from Old English stōw (“place, location”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōu, from Proto-Germanic *stōō (“a place, stowage”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, place, put”). Cognate with Old Frisian stō (“place”), Icelandic stó (“fireplace”), Dutch stouw (“place”), German Stau (“congestion”). See also -stow.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Yet everybody knows that a cargo properly stowed in a seaworthy craft reaches market in much the better condition than by rail, though perhaps it is some hours longer on the way."
— 1922, James A. Cooper, Sheila of Big Wreck Cove:
"Ar.[…]The Marriners all vnder hatches ſtowed, / Who, with a Charme ioynd to their ſuffred labour / I haue left aſleep :[…]"
— 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 3:
"“Come, come,” said Silver; “stow this talk. He’s dead, and he don’t walk, that I know; leastways, he won’t walk by day, and you may lay to that. Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons.”"
— 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:
"His seconde hawke wexyd gery […]
on the rode loft
She perkyd her to rest.
The fauconer then was prest,
Came runnynge with a dow,
And cryed, ‘Stow, stow, stow!’
But she wold not bow."
— c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 63, lines 66, 69–74:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Before the ship departed, the crew had to ____ all the cargo in the lower hold.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You need to ____ your suitcases in the overhead compartment before the plane can take off safely.