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Origin and history of stow

stow(v.)

c. 1300, stouen, "to put, place (somewhere), put in a (suitable or convenient) place or position," verbal use of Old English noun stow "a place, spot, site, locality" (common in place names), from Proto-Germanic *stowo- (source also of Old Frisian sto "place," Middle Low German, Middle Dutch stouwen, Dutch stuwen "to stow," Old High German stouwen "to stop, check," German stauen "to stow, pack; bring to a halt, hem in"). This is considered to be from PIE *stau- "stout, standing, strong," extended form of root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm" (source also of Old Church Slavonic stavljo "to place," Lithuanian stoviu, stovėti "to stand").

It is attested by early 14c. as "lodge, provide quarters for (a person or animal;" the nautical sense of "put away to be stored, pack" (gear, in a ship) is by late 14c., reinforced later by Dutch stouwen "to cram, pack up close." Related: Stowed; stowing.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to stow

bestow(v.)

early 14c., bistowen "give, confer" (alms, etc.), from be- + stowen "to place" (see stow). Related: Bestowed; bestowing; bestower.

Bristol

City in western England, Middle English Bridgestow, from Old English Brycgstow, literally "assembly place by a bridge" (see bridge (n.) + stow). A local peculiarity of pronunciation adds -l to words ending in vowels. Of a type of pottery, 1776; of a type of glass, 1880. In British slang, bristols, "breasts," is by 1961, from Bristol cities, rhyming slang for titties.

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rummage
1540s, "arrange or stow (cargo) in a ship," from the noun rummage "act of arranging cargo in a ship" (1520s), a shortening...of French arrumage "arrangement of cargo," from arrumer "to stow goods in the hold of a ship," from a- "to" + -rumer, which...
berth
The meaning "place on a ship to stow chests and for sailors to sleep" is from 1706; it was extended to non-nautical situations...
stud
Proto-Germanic *stud- (source also of Old Norse stoð "staff, stick," properly "stay," Middle High German stud, Old English stow...
place
Replaced Old English stow and stede....
pack
early 13c., pak, pake, "a bundle or package (of cloth, merchandise, etc.)," also "a bag or purse for carrying things," probably from a Low German word (compare Middle Dutch pac, pack "bundle," Middle Low German pak, Middle Flemish pac, attested from late 12c.) and taken into Engl
hector
"to bluster, bully, domineer," 1650s, from slang hector (n.) "a blustering, turbulent, pervicacious, noisy fellow" [Johnson], 1650s, from Hector of the "Iliad," in reference to his encouragement of his fellow Trojans to keep up the fight. Earlier in English the name was used gene
alone
"unaccompanied, solitary; without companions," c. 1300, a contraction of all ane, from Old English all ana "unaccompanied, all by oneself," literally "wholly oneself," from all "all, wholly" (see all) + an "one" (see one). It preserves the old pronunciation of one. Similar compou
frog-march
also frog's march, 1871, a term that originated among London police and referred to their method of moving "a drunken or refractory prisoner" by carrying him face-down between four people, each holding a limb; the connection with frog (n.1) perhaps being the notion of going along
nerve
late 14c., nerve, nerf, "sinew, tendon, hard cord of the body" (a sense now obsolete), also "fiber or bundle of fibers that convey the capacity to feel or move from the brain or spinal cord to the body," from Old French nerf and directly from Medieval Latin nervus "a nerve," from
apprehensive
late 14c., "capable of perceiving, fitted for mental impression," from Medieval Latin apprehensivus, from Latin apprehens-, past-participle stem of apprehendere "take hold of, grasp" physically or mentally (see apprehend). The meaning "fearful of what is to come" is recorded from

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