Plural of bow, referring to weapons for shooting arrows, the front of a ship, or gestures of respect involving bending forward.
From Old English boga meaning 'arch, bow,' related to 'to bend.' The nautical sense comes from the curved shape of a ship's front, while the gesture meaning relates to bending one's body.
The English longbow was so effective in medieval warfare that French kings banned its export, and skilled archers developed a distinctive skeletal deformity called 'archer's shoulder' from repeatedly drawing the 150-pound draw weight.
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