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🌱 To plant 💭 To spread ideas 🐖 A female pig
sow

sow

22 4.9
An adult female pig kept to have piglets
  • noun
  • /saʊ/
translation icon : cerda
  • In the barn, the sow nursed her litter of piglets with great care.

And so I got picked to collect sperm from a pig to then, which was then going to be inseminated, which somebody else did into a sow to make piglets.

Examples

  • There were four kinds of pigs: feeders, bolders, gilts, and sows, and many different breeds.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The grinder finishes and dispenses the feed to the sows, who shut up immediately.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • You see, there are two ways of getting a sow pregnant.

    Leon the Pig Farmer (1993)

  • A neighbor brought his sow over once to be impregnated by the pig.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The sow has no pigs, the farmer is afraid he may starve.

    The Magnificent Seven (1960)

  • Out in the field, there was one enormous sow tethered by a rope to her hind leg.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • His first project was done with 16 sows, studying 4 at a time from Purdue's herd of 250 sows.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The brood sows remain in a sow unit for breeding, gestation, and farrowing.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The Royal Farm's digester used the manure from a 1,600-sow farrow-to-finish farm.

    Academic text (2000)

  • In general, PRRSV causes a disease characterized by reproductive failure in sows and respiratory infection in growing pigs.

    Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

brood sow
vssow
  • Jargon
8.9

A female pig kept to have piglets

is the adult female pig term used more generally rather than only for breeding

Idioms

to reap what you sow
  • Informal
8 6.0

To get the results of your actions, good or bad

to sow one's wild oats
  • NSFW
3 9.8

To have many short sexual relationships when young

to sow the seeds of
  • Informal
2 6.3

To cause a small action now that brings bigger effects later

to sow one's oats
  • NSFW
9.9

Have many casual sexual relationships when young before settling down

to sow the seeds of change
  • Informal
5.0

Start small actions that lead to change later

to sow wild oats
  • NSFW
9.6

Behave carelessly and have many romantic adventures before settling down

Compounds

brood sow
  • Jargon
8.9

A female pig kept to have piglets

sow bug
  • US
7.9

A small grey animal with a hard oval body that lives under stones and logs

sow thistle
9.6

A prickly plant with yellow flowers and white sap often found in gardens as a weed

Surface Forms

sow singular
sows plural

Etymology

Sow for a grown female pig comes from an old English word for a 'female pig' and is related to the family word swine, so a sow still means an adult female pig kept for breeding.