different between frower vs frow

English

Etymology

Compare frow and British dialect frommard.

Noun

frower (plural frowers)

1. A froe or frow (cleaving tool).

English

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch vrouwe (“lady”), from Old Dutch *fr?wa, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *frawj? (“lady, mistress”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr?w- (“right; judge, master”).

Cognate with Dutch vrouw (“woman, wife, lady, mistress”), Low German frouw, frauw (“woman, wife, lady”), German Frau (“woman, wife, lady”), Swedish fru, Icelandic freyja (“lady, mistress”, in compounds), Old English fr?we (“woman”), Old English fr?a (“lord, master, husband”). Doublet of frau and vrouw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?a?/

Noun

frow (plural frows)

1. A woman; a wife, especially a Dutch or German one.

   • Mrs. Frances, a Frow, Daughter to Vanlock

2. (obsolete) A slovenly woman; a wench; a lusty woman.
3. (obsolete) A big, fat woman; a slovenly, coarse, or untidy woman; a woman of low character.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f???/, /f?o?/

Noun

frow (plural frows)

1. Alternative spelling of froe (“cleaving tool”)

Etymology 3

From Middle English frow, frough, frogh, frouh, frou? (“brittle; tender; fickle; slack; loose”), cognate with Scots frooch, freuch (“dry and brittle”). Of obscure origin. Perhaps also related to Middle Dutch vro, vroo, Middle Low German vrô, German froh.

Adjective

frow (comparative more frow, superlative most frow)

1. (now chiefly dialectal) Brittle; tender; crisp

Derived terms

• frowish

Etymology 4

Compare frower.

Noun

frow (plural frows)

1. A cleaving tool with handle at right angles to the blade, for splitting cask staves and shingles from the block; a frower.

Anagrams

• rowf