Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To cause or allow to be seen; display.
  • intransitive verb To display for sale, in exhibition, or in competition.
  • intransitive verb To permit access to (a house, for example) when offering for sale or rent.
  • intransitive verb To conduct; guide.
  • intransitive verb To direct one's attention to; point out.
  • intransitive verb To make evident or reveal (an emotion or condition, for example).
  • intransitive verb To reveal (oneself) as in one's behavior or condition.
  • intransitive verb To indicate; register.
  • intransitive verb To demonstrate by reasoning or procedure.
  • intransitive verb To demonstrate to by reasoning or procedure; inform or prove to.
  • intransitive verb To grant; bestow.
  • intransitive verb To be or become visible or evident.
  • intransitive verb Slang To make an appearance; show up.
  • intransitive verb To be exhibited publicly.
  • intransitive verb To give a performance or present an exhibition.
  • intransitive verb Sports To finish third or better in a horserace or dog race.
  • noun A display; a manifestation.
  • noun A trace or indication, as of oil in a well.
  • noun The discharge of bloody mucus from the vagina indicating the start of labor.
  • noun The first discharge of blood in menstruation.
  • noun A false appearance; a pretense.
  • noun A striking appearance or display; a spectacle.
  • noun A pompous or ostentatious display.
  • noun Display or outward appearance.
  • noun A public exhibition or entertainment.
  • noun An exposition for the display or demonstration of commercial products.
  • noun A usually competitive exhibition of domestic animals.
  • noun A radio or television program.
  • noun A movie.
  • noun A theatrical troupe or company.
  • noun Informal An affair or undertaking.
  • noun Sports Third place at the finish, as in a horserace.
  • idiom (get the show on the road) To get started.
  • idiom Games (show (one's) hand) To display one's cards with faces up.
  • idiom (show (one's) hand) To state one's intentions or reveal one's resources, especially when previously hidden.
  • idiom (show (one's) heels) To depart from quickly; flee.
  • idiom (show (someone) a good time) To occupy (someone) with amusing things; entertain.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English sheuen, shouen, from Old English scēawian, to look at, display.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English schewen, schawen, scheawen, from Old English scēawian ("to look, look at, observe, gaze, behold, see, look on with favor, look favorably on, regard, have respect for, look at with care, consider, inspect, examine, scrutinize, reconnoiter, look out, look for, seek for, select, choose, provide, show (favor, respect, etc.), exhibit, display, grant, decree"), from Proto-Germanic *skauwōnan, *skawwōnan (“to look, see”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱou-, *(s)ḱeu- (“to heed, look, feel, take note of”); see haw, caveo, caution. Cognate with Scots shaw ("to show"), Eastern Frisian scoe ("to look, behold"), Dutch schouwen ("to inspect, view"), German schauen ("to see, behold"), Danish skue ("to behold"), Icelandic skygna ("to spy, behold, see"), Albanian shkoj ("I go") related to shikoj ("I see, observe, look for"). Related to sheen.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word show.

Examples

  • That, and the truth that in 10 years the naysayers will be forgotten, and made irrelevant...but the show, the *show*...goes on.

    Archive 2005-11-01 Abigail Nussbaum 2005

  • That, and the truth that in 10 years the naysayers will be forgotten, and made irrelevant...but the show, the *show*...goes on.

    Babylon 5: Addenda Abigail Nussbaum 2005

  • Red Line Chemistry will show off its softer side when it headlines a “special acoustic show”

    Kansas City Star: Front Page 2011

  • Priory, to take care of all the old trumpery, and show the place -- you know it's a _show place_.

    Tales and Novels — Volume 09 Maria Edgeworth 1808

  • Reminds me of how every new TV show is 'the new hit show_____!' even before the pilot airs also reminds me of a certain poster here who admitted they declared Obama a failure before his first day in office, because, they just 'knew' he would be. call it 'The Power of Negative Thinking' question is, why would anyone want their country's leader to fail?

    Propeller Most Popular Stories TimALoftis 2010

  • Guicontrol,, textshow, \% nothing\% return if value = 3 show = \% 1\% \% 2\% \% 3\% guicontrol,, textshow, \% show\% sleep, \% timeoutsleep\%

    AutoHotkey Community 2009

  • Guicontrol,, textshow, \% nothing\% return if value = 3 show = \% 1\% \% 2\% \% 3\% guicontrol,, textshow, \% show\% sleep, \% timeoutsleep\%

    AutoHotkey Community 2009

  • Guicontrol,, textshow, \% nothing\% return if value = 3 show = \% 1\% \% 2\% \% 3\% guicontrol,, textshow, \% show\% sleep, \% timeoutsleep\%

    AutoHotkey Community 2009

  • Guicontrol,, textshow, \% nothing\% return if value = 3 show = \% 1\% \% 2\% \% 3\% guicontrol,, textshow, \% show\% sleep, \% timeoutsleep\%

    AutoHotkey Community 2009

  • Guicontrol,, textshow, \% nothing\% return if value = 4 show = \% 1\% \% 2\% \% 3\% \% 4\% guicontrol,, textshow, \% show\% sleep, \% timeoutsleep\%

    AutoHotkey Community 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.