low

adj

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

   “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.”

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

   “the low countries”

   “Low German”

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

   “the pitch (or: the ball) was low”

4. 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.

   “a low bow”

   “a low tide”

   “the Mississippi is unusually low right now”

   “It is a little low hearb […]”

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

5. 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; […]”

   “Why do girls wear low dresses?”

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

   “low birth”

   “low rank”

   “the low officials of the bureaucracy”

   “low-quality fabric”

   “playing low tricks on them”

7. Humble, meek, not haughty.

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

8. Disparaging; assigning little value or excellence.

   “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.'”

9. Being a nadir, a bottom.

   “the low point in her career”

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

10. Depressed in mood, dejected, sad.

    “low spirits”

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

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

    “a low pulse”

    “made (or: laid) low by sickness”

12. Lacking health or vitality, strength or vivacity; feeble; weak.
13. Dead. (Compare lay low.)

    “And wilt thou weep when I am low?”

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

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

    “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.”

    “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.”

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

    “diets low in vitamin A”

    “made from low-carbon steel”

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

    “running low on cash”

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

17. (especially)Simple in complexity or development.

    “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.”

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

    “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.”

    “[…] 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 […]”

19. Being near the equator.

    “the low northern latitudes”

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

    “The note was too low for her to sing.”

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

21. Quiet; soft; not loud.

    “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.”

22. 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.
23. Lesser in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.

    “a low card”

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

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

25. Designed for a slow (or the slowest) speed.

    “low gear”

noun

1. A low point or position, literally (as, a depth) or figuratively (as, a nadir, a time when things are at their worst, least, minimum, etc).

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. A low point or position, literally (as, a depth) or figuratively (as, a nadir, a time when things are at their worst, least, minimum, etc).

   “Today's low was 32 °F.”

   “A cold one out there today, with lows reaching 33 degrees.”

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

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

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

   “A deep low is centred over the British Isles.”

5. 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.”

6. The lowest trump, usually the deuce; the lowest trump dealt or drawn.
7. (slang, usually)A cheap, cost-efficient, or advantageous price.

   “He got the brand new Yankees jersey for the low.”

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

   “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 […]”

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

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

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

9. (archaic, obsolete)Barrow, mound, tumulus.

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

10. (Scottish, archaic, dialectal)A hill.

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

11. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable)Acronym of launch on warning.

adv

1. Close to the ground.
2. Of a pitch, at a lower frequency.

   “Can sing both high and low.”

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

   “to speak low”

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

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

   “He sold his wheat low.”

5. In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.

   “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.”

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. 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.”

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive)To lower; to make 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, […]”

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

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

   “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, / […]”

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

2. (form-of, obsolete, past)simple past of laugh.
3. (intransitive)To moo.

   “The cattle were lowing.”

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

   “The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.”

   “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.”

4. (Scotland, UK, dialectal)To burn; to blaze.

   “Driest wood will eithest low,”

   “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 —””

   “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.”

   “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.”

5. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of 'low.

name

1. (countable, uncountable)A surname.
2. (countable, uncountable)A township municipality in La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada, named after Charles Adamson Low.
3. (countable, uncountable)A ghost town in Tooele County, Utah, United States.
4. The station code of Lo Wu in Hong Kong.