Definitions

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

  • noun Nautical The forward part of a ship's hull; the bow.
  • noun A projecting forward part, such as the front end of a ski.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Profit; advantage; benefit.
  • noun The fore part of a ship; the bow; the beak.
  • noun In zoôl., a prora.
  • Valiant.
  • noun An obsolete form of proa.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The fore part of a vessel; the bow; the stem; hence, the vessel itself.
  • noun See proa.
  • adjective Archaic Valiant; brave; gallant; courageous.
  • noun obsolete Benefit; profit; good; advantage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun nautical The fore part of a vessel; the bow; the stem; hence, the vessel itself.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun front part of a vessel or aircraft

Etymologies

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

[French proue, from Old French, from Italian dialectal prua, from Vulgar Latin *prōda, alteration of Latin prōra, from Greek prōira; see per in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old French prou, from Late Latin prode; more at proud.

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Examples

  • On the high curve of the prow was a device Argurios had not seen on any other ship, a wooden structure bolted to the deck in four places.

    Lord of the Silver Bow Gemmell, David 2005

  • In the deepening twilight, the vessel's strakes gleamed like the feathers of a swan and her prow was a proud and graceful curve.

    The Falcons of Montabard Chadwick, Elizabeth 2004

  • Her poop and her prow were the only points of her hull that were exposed, and these towered so high above the bulwarks of all other vessels that to attempt to board her was both useless and dangerous.

    Olaf the Glorious A Story of the Viking Age Robert Leighton

  • Her prow was a dragon's head, a dragon's tail formed her stern, and dragon's wings bore her along swifter than an eagle before the storm.

    Young Folks Treasury, Volume 2 (of 12) Various

  • She was fashioned of oak, all bolted together with iron, and at her prow was a gilded dragon most wonderfully carved.

    Eric Brighteyes Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • The prow, which is solid, has a flat terrace, on which, for the king's up-country excursions, they mount a small field-piece, a nine or a twelve pounder.

    The English Governess at the Siamese Court Being Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace at Bangkok Anna Harriette Leonowens 1874

  • The prow, which is solid, has a flat terrace, on which, for the king's up-country excursions, they mount a small field-piece, a nine or a twelve pounder.

    The English Governess at the Siamese Court Leonowens, Anna H 1870

  • Upon the prow was a sort of fortress, on which stood a group of soldiers armed with long spears and with large oval shields, on which were painted hieroglyphic devices

    The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage 1859

  • To crown all, seated sideways in the high, open shark's-mouth of our prow was a little dwarf of a boy, one of Media's pages, a red conch-shell, bugle-wise suspended at his side.

    Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I (of 2) Herman Melville 1855

  • (By the prow was the fatal lady ordained to be the guide.)

    Zanoni Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

Comments

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  • There is a memory stays upon old ships,

    A weightless cargo in the musty hold, --

    Of bright lagoons and prow-caressing lips,

    Of stormy midnights, -- and a tale untold.

    They have remembered islands in the dawn,

    And windy capes that tried their slender spars,

    And tortuous channels where their keels have gone,

    And calm blue nights of stillness and the stars.

    - David Morton, 'Old Ships'.

    October 4, 2008

  • Jeju has endless coffeeshops whose logos are clearly ripped off from the Starbucks logo, but whose names are totally unrelated...except for Prowbucks.

    May 13, 2009

  • Do their mermaids have nipples?

    May 13, 2009

  • "Sarayu was sitting in the prow, lokking at him." The Shack by WM Paul

    October 1, 2010