different between low vs void

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lowe, lohe, l?h, from Old Norse lágr (“low”), from Proto-Germanic *l?gaz (“lying, flat, situated near the ground, low”), from Proto-Indo-European *leg?- (“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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /lo?/
• Homophones: lo, Lowe
• Rhymes: -??

Adjective

low (comparative lower, superlative lowest)

1. Situated close to, or even below, the ground or another normal reference plane; not high or lofty.
   • 2012, Tyler Jo Smith, Dimitris Plantzos, A Companion to Greek Art (?ISBN):

     Narrative friezes in low relief were characteristic of Ionic architecture.

   1. Pertaining to (or, especially of a language: spoken in) in an area which is at a lesser elevation, closer to sea level (especially near the sea), than other regions.

   2. (baseball, of a ball) Below the batter's knees.

2. 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.
   • 1607 (edition of 1967), Edward Topsell, The history of four-footed beasts:

     It is a little low hearb  […]

   • 1795, James Cavanah Murphy, Travels in Portugal, page 15:

     The men are well-proportioned, rather low than tall, have a brown complexion, and reserved countenance.

   • 1911(?), Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage, page 13:

     "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."

   1. Low-cut.
      • 1878, Mary Eliza Joy Haweis, The Art of Beauty, London : Chatto & Windus, page 83:

        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; […]

      • 1917, George Amos Dorsey, Young Low, page 195:

        Why do girls wear low dresses?

3. Not high in status, esteem, or rank, dignity, or quality. (Compare vulgar.)
   • 1971, Keystone Folklore Quarterly, volume 16, page 208:

     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.

   • 1720, The Delphick oracle, page 35:

     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.

4. Humble, meek, not haughty.
5. Disparaging; assigning little value or excellence.

   She had a low opinion of cats. He took a low view of dogs.

   • 1826, Ebenezer Erskine, The Whole Works of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, Sermon VII, page 103:

     The humble soul has low thoughts of his own person; as David, 'I am a worm, and no man.'

6. Being a nadir, a bottom.
   • 2012, Faith Hartmann, Only a Fool Would Have Believed It in the First Place (?ISBN):

     Virginia, for example, reached such a low point in her junior year that she briefly considered suicide [...]

7. Depressed in mood, dejected, sad.
8. Lacking health or vitality, strength or vivacity; feeble; weak.

9. Dead. (Compare lay low.)
   • 1830, George Gordon Byron Baron Byron, Byron's Poems, page 511:

     And wilt thou weep when I am low?

   • 1879, Alfred Tennyson Baron Tennyson, Poetical Works, page 198:

     And let the mournful martial music blow; / For many a time in many a clime / The last great Englishman is low.

10. Small, not high (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
    • 1989, Bernard Smith, Sailloons and Fliptackers: The Limits to High-speed Sailing (?ISBN):

      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.
    1. Having a small or comparatively smaller concentration of (a substance, which is often but not always linked by "in" when predicative).

        

    2. Depleted, or nearing deletion; lacking in supply.
11. (especially in biology) Simple in complexity or development.
    • 1870, Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches Into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, page 80:

      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.

12. (chiefly in several set phrases) Favoring simplicity (see e.g. low church, Low Tory).
    • 1881, Anthony Trollope, Dr. Wortle's School: A Novel, page 6:

      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.

    • 1889, Reginald Garton Wilberforce, Life of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford and Winchester, page 152:

      […] 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 […]

13. (in several set phrases) Being near the equator.

14. (acoustics) Grave in pitch, due to being produced by relatively slow vibrations (wave oscillations); flat.

15. Quiet; soft; not loud.

16. (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.
17. (card games) Lesser in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.

18. (now rare) Not rich or seasoned; offering the minimum of nutritional requirements; plain, simple. [from 17th c.]
    • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt 2008, p. 173:

      The Physicians ordered a low diet, and cooling ptisans in great abundance.

19. (of an automobile, gear, etc) Designed for a slow (or the slowest) speed.

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

• (in a position comparatively close to the ground): high
• (small in length): tall

Derived terms

Related terms

• below

Translations

Noun

low (plural lows)

1. 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).

   Unemployment has reached a ten-year low.

   1. The minimum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.

      Today's low was 32 °F.

2. A period of depression; a depressed mood or situation.

   He is in a low right now.   the highs and lows of bipolar disorder

3. (meteorology, informal) An area of low pressure; a depression.

   A deep low is centred over the British Isles.

4. The lowest-speed gearing of a power-transmission system, especially of an automotive vehicle.

   Shift out of low before the car gets to eight miles per hour.

5. (card games) The lowest trump, usually the deuce; the lowest trump dealt or drawn.
6. (slang, usually accompanied by "the") A cheap, cost-efficient, or advantageous price.

   He got the brand new Yankees jersey for the low.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

low (comparative lower, superlative lowest)

1. Close to the ground.
2. Of a pitch, at a lower frequency.
3. With a low voice or sound; not loudly; gently.
   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Eleanor

     The […] odorous wind / Breathes low between the sunset and the moon.

4. Under the usual price; at a moderate price; cheaply.

5. In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.
6. In a time approaching our own.

   • 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.

7. (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.

   The moon runs low, i.e. comparatively near the horizon when on or near the meridian.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To lower; to make low.
   • 1654 (edition of 1762), Andrew Gray, The Works of [...] Andrew Gray [Edited by R. Trail and J. Stirling], page 112:

     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, […]

   • 1661 (edition of 1885), Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: [...] Vanity of Dogmatizing, page 85:

     Now to use these as Hypotheseis, as himself in his Word, is pleas'd to low himself to our capacities, is allowable:

   • 1790, Andrew Shirrefs, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, page 219:

     The merry fowks that were the ben, / By this time 'gan to low their strain

   • 1807, James Ruickbie, The Way-side Cottager; [...] Miscellaneous Poems, page 178:

     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, / […]

   • 1899 May 6, Shetland News:

     Dat 'ill be somtin' ta hise an' low wi' a ütterly breeze.

Etymology 2

From Middle English lough, from Old English hl?g, preterite of hliehhan (“to laugh”). More at laugh.

Verb

low

1. (obsolete) simple past of laugh.

Etymology 3

From Middle English lowen (“to low”), from Old English hl?wan (“to low, bellow, roar”), from Proto-Germanic *hl?an? (“to call, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh?- (“to call”). Cognate with Dutch loeien (“to low”), Middle High German lüejen (“to roar”), dialectal Swedish lumma (“to roar”), Latin cal? (“I call”), Ancient Greek ????? (kalé?), Latin cl?m? (“I shout, claim”). More at claim.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /lo?/
• Homophones: lo, Lowe
• Rhymes: -??

Verb

low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)

1. (intransitive) To moo.

Translations

Etymology 4

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 l?e? (“fire, flame, lightning”). More at leye, light.

Alternative forms

• lowe

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /lo?/

Noun

low (plural lows)

1. (countable, Britain, Scotland, dialect) A flame; fire; blaze.
   • 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering, page 85:

     She was, as one of them expressed himself, in a light low (bright flame) 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 […]

   • 1843, John Wilson, The Noctes Ambrosianœ of "Blackwood"., page 478:

     A boy fell aff his chair a' in a low, for the discharge had set him on fire […]

Translations

Verb

low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)

1. (Britain, Scotland, dialect) To burn; to blaze.
   • 1724 (edition of 1788), Allan Ramsay, The Tea-Table Miscellany, page 23:

     Driest wood will eithest low,

   • 1870, Edward Peacock, Ralf Skirlaugh, the Lincolnshire Squire: A Novel, page 197:

     […] 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 —”

   • 1894, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Raiders, page 82:

     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.

   • 1895, Robert Louis Stevenson, Works, page 382:

     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.

Etymology 5

From Old English hl?w, hl?w (“burial mound”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaiwaz. Obsolete by the 19th century, survives in toponymy as -low.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /lo?/
• Homophones: lo, Lowe
• Rhymes: -??

Alternative forms

• lawe

Noun

low (plural lows)

1. (archaic or obsolete) Barrow, mound, tumulus.
2. (Scottish dialectal, archaic) A hill.

Anagrams

• OWL, WoL, owl

Chinese

Etymology

From English low.

Adjective

low

1. (slang) Of low stature; uncivilized; uncouth.

   ?low??? / ?low???  ?  h?n low de xíngwèi  ?  highly uncivilized behavior

Manx

Etymology

Borrowed from English allow.

Verb

low (verbal noun lowal, past participle lowit)

1. to allow, permit
2. to justify

Antonyms

• (allow, permit): meelow, neulow

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v??d/
• Rhymes: -??d
• Hyphenation: void

Etymology 1

From Middle English voide, voyde, from Old French vuit, voide, vuide (modern vide), in turn from a Vulgar Latin *vocitus, related to Latin vacuus (“empty”).

Adjective

void (not comparable)

1. Containing nothing; empty; not occupied or filled.

   • The earth was without form, and void.

   • c. 1619–22, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, A Very Woman

     I'll chain him in my study, that, at void hours, / I may run over the story of his country.

2. Having no incumbent; unoccupied; said of offices etc.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Apophthegms

     divers great offices that had been long void

3. Being without; destitute; devoid.

   • He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor.

4. Not producing any effect; ineffectual; vain.

   • [My word] shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.

   • I will make void the counsel of Judah.

5. Of no legal force or effect, incapable of confirmation or ratification.

   null and void

6. Containing no immaterial quality; destitute of mind or soul.
7. (computing, programming, of a function or method) That does not return a value.

Translations

Noun

void (plural voids)

1. An empty space; a vacuum.

   Nobody has crossed the void since one man died trying three hundred years ago; it's high time we had another go.
2. (astronomy) An extended region of space containing no galaxies
3. (materials science) A collection of adjacent vacancies inside a crystal lattice.
4. (fluid mechanics) A pocket of vapour inside a fluid flow, created by cavitation.
5. (construction) An empty space between floors or walls, including false separations and planned gaps between a building and its facade.

Synonyms

• ((engineering) collection of vacancies): pore
• ((engineering) pocket of vapour in fluid): bubble

Hyponyms

• ((astronomy) An extended region of space containing no galaxies): Local Void

Translations

Verb

void (third-person singular simple present voids, present participle voiding, simple past and past participle voided)

1. (transitive) To make invalid or worthless.
   • after they had voided the obligation of the oath he had taken

2. (transitive, medicine) To empty.

3. To throw or send out; to evacuate; to emit; to discharge.

   • You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur

   • 1612, John Webster, The White Devil

     With shovel, like a fury, voided out / The earth and scattered bones.

   • a. 1692, Isaac Barrow, The Danger and Mischief of Delaying Repentance

     a watchful application of mind in voiding prejudices

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To withdraw, depart.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To remove the contents of; to make or leave vacant or empty; to quit; to leave.
   • If they will fight with us, bid them come down, / Or void the field.

Synonyms

• (make invalid or worthless): annul, cancel
• ((medicine) to empty): evacuate

Translations

Etymology 2

Alteration of voidee.

Noun

void (plural voids)

1. (now rare, historical) A voidee. [from 15th c.]
   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 68:

     Late on the final evening, as the customary ‘void’ – spiced wine and sweetmeats – was served, more elaborate disguisings in the great hall culminated in the release of a flock of white doves.

Anagrams

• Ovid, divo

Middle French

Alternative forms

• voit

Verb

void

1. third-person singular indicative present of veoir