low

the low countries

Low German

Situated close to, or even below, the ground or another normal reference plane; not high or lofty.

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.

the pitch (or: the ball) was low

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

standing on low ground
in a low valley, ringed by low hills
a low wall a low shelf

Narrative friezes in low relief were characteristic of Ionic architecture.

2012, Tyler Jo Smith, Dimitris Plantzos, A Companion to Greek Art, →ISBN:

a low bow
a low tide
the Mississippi is unusually low right now

It is a little low hearb […]

1607 (edition of 1967), Edward Topsell, The history of four-footed beasts

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

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

"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."

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

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.

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; […]

1878, Mary Eliza Joy Haweis, The Art of Beauty, London: Chatto & Windus, page 83:

Why do girls wear low dresses?

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

low birth
low rank
the low officials of the bureaucracy
low-quality fabric
playing low tricks on them
a person of low mind

Now that was low even for you!

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.

1971, Keystone Folklore Quarterly, volume 16, page 208:

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.

Not high in status, esteem, or rank, dignity, or quality. (Compare vulgar.)

God loves an humble soul. It is not our high birth, but our low hearts God delights in.

1829, Thomas Watson, Discourses on Important and Interesting Subjects:

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

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

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

Disparaging; assigning little value or excellence.

the low point in her career

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

2012, Faith Hartmann, Only a Fool Would Have Believed It in the First Place, →ISBN:

low spirits

As low as I felt, at least I didn't have Hunding's [miserable] job.

2016, Rick Riordan, The Hammer of Thor, page 33:

a low pulse

made (or: laid) low by sickness

Lacking health or vitality, strength or vivacity; feeble; weak.

(video games, roleplaying games) Having few hit points remaining; damaged.

Having few hit points remaining; damaged.

And wilt thou weep when I am low?

1830, George Gordon Byron Baron Byron, Byron's Poems, page 511:

[L]et the mournful martial music blow; / The last great Englishman is low.

1852, Alfred Tennyson, “Stanza III”, in Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 6:

diets low in vitamin A

made from low-carbon steel

Small, not high (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).

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

running low on cash

When silica is in low supply other classes of algae dominate the phytoplankton composition.

2002, V.N. Bashkin, Robert W. Howarth, Modern Biogeochemistry, →ISBN, page 151:

Depleted, or nearing deletion; lacking in supply.

My credit union charges a low interest rate. Jogging during a whiteout, with such low temperatures and low visibility, is dangerous. The store sold bread at low prices, and milk at even lower prices. The contractors gave a low estimate of the costs. low cholesterol a low voltage wire a low number

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.

1989, Bernard Smith, Sailloons and Fliptackers: The Limits to High-speed Sailing, →ISBN:

The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.

2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:

low protozoan animals, low cryptogamic plants, and other low organisms

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.

1870, Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches Into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, page 80:

(especially in biology) Simple in complexity or development.

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.

1881, Anthony Trollope, Dr. Wortle's School: A Novel, page 6:

[…] 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 […]

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

(chiefly in several set phrases) Favoring simplicity (see e.g. low church, Low Tory).

Favoring simplicity (see e.g. low church, Low Tory).

the low northern latitudes

(in several set phrases) Being near the equator.

The note was too low for her to sing.

Generally, European men have lower voices than their Indian counterparts.

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

They spoke in low voices so I would not hear what they were saying.

Why would you want to play heavy metal at such a low volume?

Speak low if you speak love.

1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

(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.

a low card

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

Lesser in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.

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

1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 173:

(now rare) Not rich or seasoned; offering the minimum of nutritional requirements; plain, simple.

low gear

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

Designed for a slow (or the slowest) speed.

en-adj

low (comparative lower, superlative lowest)

lower (comparative)
lowest (superlative)

could eat the arse out of a low flying duck

could eat the crotch out of a low flying duck

could eat the crutch from a low flying duck

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails

laag

in a position comparatively close to the ground

слаб

lacking health or vitality; feeble; weak

ala-

phonetics: articulated with a low position of part of the tongue in relation to the palate

From Middle English lowe, lohe, lāh, from Old Norse lágr (“low”), from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz (“lying, flat, situated near the ground, low”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“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.

der

lying, flat, situated near the ground, low


low

You have achieved a new low in behavior, Frank.

Economic growth has hit a new low.

Unemployment has reached a ten-year low.

During the 1960s and 1970s, when both the quality of architecture and the appreciation of historic buildings reached an all-time low, British Railways was notorious for replacing good station buildings and canopies with little more than bus shelters, usually in conjunction with de-staffing.

2020 December 2, Anthony Lambert, “Reimagining Railway Stations”, in Rail, page 38:

He also called for the US and China to rebuild their fractured relationship, which has plunged to new lows this year, but which Guterres said was “crucial” to climate action.

2022 November 4, Fiona Harvey, “UN chief warns ‘we will be doomed’ without historic climate pact”, in The Guardian:

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).

Today's low was 32 °F.

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

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

A period of depression; a depressed mood or situation.

A deep low is centred over the British Isles.

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

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

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

(card games) The lowest trump, usually the deuce; the lowest trump dealt or drawn.

He got the brand new Yankees jersey for the low.

(slang, usually accompanied by "the") A cheap, cost-efficient, or advantageous price.


low

Can sing both high and low.

c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

to speak low

[T]he amorous, odorous wind, / Breathes low between the sunset and the moon, […]

1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “Eleanore”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 31:

With a low voice or sound; not loudly; gently.

He sold his wheat low.

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

But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.

2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):

In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.

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.

1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC:

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

(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.


low

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, […]

1654 (edition of 1762), Andrew Gray, The Works of … Andrew Gray [Edited by R. Trail and J. Stirling], page 112

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

1661 (edition of 1885), Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: … Vanity of Dogmatizing, page 85

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

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

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, / […]

1807, James Ruickbie, The Way-side Cottager; … Miscellaneous Poems, page 178:

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

(obsolete, transitive) To lower; to make low.

en-verb

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

lows (present singular third-person)
lowing (participle present)
lowed (participle past)
lowed (past)


low

From Middle English lough, from Old English hlōh, first and third person singular preterite of hliehhan (“to laugh”). More at laugh.


low

The cattle were lowing.

In peals of thunder now she roars--and now / She gently whimpers like a lowing cow

1726, Jonathan Swift, “The Lamentations of Glumdalclitch for the Loss of Grildrig”, in Gulliver's Travels, A Voyage to Brobdingnag:

The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.

1750, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

It would have been a great privilege to be the mistress of an old time-honoured mansion, to call oaks and elms her own, to know that acres of gardens were submitted to her caprices, to look at herds of cows and oxen, and be aware that they lowed on her own pastures.

1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “The Honourable Mr. Glascock”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 107:

From Middle English lowen (“to low”), from Old English hlōwan (“to low, bellow, roar”), from Proto-Germanic *hlōaną (“to call, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call”).
Cognate with Dutch loeien (“to low”), Middle High German lüejen (“to roar”), dialectal Swedish lumma (“to roar”), Latin calō (“I call”), Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō), Latin clāmō (“I shout, claim”). More at claim.


low

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 […]

1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, page 85:

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

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

[…] and he was sure to light of a verse blazing wi' a blue brimstone low that set all straight.

1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 76:

And methought the whole world was lighted in a lowe, and with a great cry I awoke out of the dream.

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 19:

(countable, UK, Scotland, dialect) A flame; fire; blaze.

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 līeġ (“fire, flame, lightning”). More at leye, light.


low

Driest wood will eithest low,

1724 (edition of 1788), Allan Ramsay, The Tea-Table Miscellany, page 23

They scarcely left to co'er their fuds,
 To quench their lowan drouth.

[…] 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 —”

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

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.

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

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.

1895, Robert Louis Stevenson, Works, page 382:

(UK, Scotland, dialect) To burn; to blaze.


low

A barrow or Low, such as were usually cast up over the bodies of eminent Captains.

1686, Robert Plot, The natural history of Staffordshire:

(archaic or obsolete) Barrow, mound, tumulus.

And some they brought the brown lint-seed, and flung it down from the Low.

1847, Mary Howitt, Ballads and other poems:

From Old English hlāw, hlǣw (“burial mound”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlaiw. Obsolete by the 19th century, survives in toponymy as -low.