meow

• miaow, miaou (UK)
• meaw, meeow (obsolete)

Alteration of earlier mew, from Middle English mewen, mouwen (“to mew, meow”), of onomatopoeic origin.

Compare Saterland Frisian mauje, miauje (“to meow”), West Frisian miaukje (“to meow”), Dutch miauwen (“to meow”), Middle Low German mauwen, mawen, mouwen (“to meow”) (whence modern German Low German mauen, miauen (“to meow”)), Middle High German mouen, modern German miauen (“to meow”). Some spellings were modelled on French miaou.

Meow and its spelling variants entered widespread currency in the 19th century, mostly replacing mew, possibly because phonetic change meant that word had ceased to approximate a cat's cry (contrast the pronunciation of Middle English mewen /ˈmɛu̯ən/ compared to modern /ˈmjuː/).

• (US) IPA^(key): /miˈaʊ̯/, /mjaʊ̯/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

meow

1. Used to indicate the cry of a cat.

   Synonyms: mew, miaow, (anime and manga fandom) nya, nyaa, nyan, nyao

   • 2024 August 1, Alison Foreman, “Why Do Audiences at Fantasia Fest … Meow?”, in IndieWire‎^[1]:

     “The last thing they had seen in 2012 before that break was a short from Simon’s Cat called ‘Cat Man Do,’” said Lamothe. “When you leave 800 people in the dark, they will do something. That’s what Fantasia is. But because they had just seen that cat go meow, they meowed.”

2. (colloquial) Used in reply to a spiteful or catty comment.
3. (colloquial) Used to express seductiveness, mimicking a growl.

meow (countable and uncountable, plural meows)

1. (countable) The cry of a cat.
   • 1968, Bob Dylan, “Quinn the Eskimo”:

     A cat’s meow and a cow’s moo, I can recite them all / Just tell me where it hurts you, honey

   • 2024 August 1, Alison Foreman, “Why Do Audiences at Fantasia Fest … Meow?”, in IndieWire‎^[2]:

     It’s from within that breathing room the meow finally emerged. […] These days every Fantasia screening begins with a cacophony of meows — timed by the audience to start and stop at black leader.

2. (UK, slang, uncountable) The drug mephedrone.

   Synonyms: drone, meow meow

meow (third-person singular simple present meows, present participle meowing, simple past and past participle meowed)

1. (intransitive) Of a cat, to make its cry.
   • 2024 August 1, Alison Foreman, “Why Do Audiences at Fantasia Fest … Meow?”, in IndieWire‎^[3]:

     “The last thing they had seen in 2012 before that break was a short from Simon’s Cat called ‘Cat Man Do,’” said Lamothe. “When you leave 800 people in the dark, they will do something. That’s what Fantasia is. But because they had just seen that cat go meow, they meowed.”

   • 2024 August 5, R29 Team, “A Week In Boston On An $81,000 Salary”, in Refinery29‎^[4]:

     The cat meows at me and bird-watches by the window facing the street. Sometimes I bird-watch with him because the older I get, the more interested I get in birds lol.

• mew
• miaow

• IPA^(key): /me͜oːw/

mēow

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of māwan