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# meow

«meow» in Mova's school dictionary: **the soft crying sound a cat makes** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (meow, meows, meowed, meowing); noun (a meow, meows); interjection (Meow!)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A meow is the soft crying sound a cat makes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#m1)

2) To meow is to make this sound. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#m2)

3) (slang) People sometimes say "meow" after someone makes a catty, spiteful remark, as a joke. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and early reading, "meow" is a sound word (onomatopoeia) showing that a cat is speaking. In everyday life cats meow to ask for food or to be let in. Phrases: "the cat meowed at the door", "a little meow".

### examples

- The kitten meowed until I gave it some milk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#x1)
- "Meow!" said the cat, rubbing against my legs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#x2)
- We heard a sad meow from under the shed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#x3)
- Our cat meows at the door every morning to be let out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#x4)
- In music class we sang a song with lots of meows in it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#x5)
- (slang) "Your hair looks like a bird's nest." "Ooh, meow!" [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/#x6)

### note

Spelled "meow" in American English and often "miaow" or "miaou" in British English; all mean the same. It is an onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like the noise it names, like "woof" and "moo". Past: meowed.

### In the corpora

- [The cat meowed all night and Mum was cross.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «meow» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meow/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.