scow

[skou]

Origin

noun

any of various vessels having a flat-bottomed rectangular hull with sloping ends, built in various sizes with or without means of propulsion, as barges, punts, rowboats, or sailboats.

Eastern U.S. a barge carrying bulk material in an open hold.

an old or clumsy boat; hulk; tub.

verb (used with object)

to transport by scow.

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Scow is one of our favorite verbs.

So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

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Origin:
1660–70, Americanism; < Dutch schouw ferryboat

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To scow

Collins

World English Dictionary

scow (skaʊ)

—n
1.	an unpowered barge used for freight; lighter
2.	(esp in the midwestern US) a sailing yacht with a flat bottom, designed to plane

[C18: via Dutch schouw from Low German schalde, related to Old Saxon skaldan to push (a boat) into the sea]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

scow

"large flat-bottomed boat," 1780, from Du. schouw "a ferry boat, punt," from M.Du. scouwe, related to O.E. scaldan, O.S. scaldan "to push (a boat) from shore."

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Matching Quote

"With a bending sail we glided rapidly by Tyngsborough and Chelmsford, each holding in one hand half of a tart country apple pie which we had purchased to celebrate our return, and in the other a fragment of the newspaper in which it was wrapped, devouring these with divided relish, and learning the news which had transpired since we sailed. The river here opened into a broad and straight reach of great length, which we bounded merrily over before a smacking breeze, with a devil-may-care look in our faces, and our boat a white bone in its mouth, and a speed which greatly astonished some scow boatmen whom we met. The wind in the horizon rolled like a flood over valley and plain, and every tree bent to the blast, and the mountains like school-boys turned their cheeks to it.... Thus we sailed, not being able to fly, but as next best, making a long furrow in the fields of the Merrimack toward our home, with our wings spread, but never lifting our heel from the watery trench; gracefully plowing homeward with our brisk and willing team, wind and stream, pulling together, the former yet a wild steer, yoked to his more sedate fellow. It was very near flying, as when the duck rushes through the water with an impulse of her wings, throwing the spray about her before she can rise. How we had stuck fast if drawn up but a few feet on the shore!"

-Henry David Thoreau