[‘ Flame, fire; (as a count noun) a flame, a fire; a blaze. Also: the gleam or glow of a fire, flame, etc.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /laʊ/, U.S. /laʊ/
Forms: eME *loȝhe* /Ormulum/, eME *lohe*, ME *lau*, ME *lawe*, ME *lawhe*, ME *logh*, ME *loue*, ME *lowhe*, ME 16– *low* now chiefly Eng. regional, ME 17– *lowe* now chiefly Eng. regional, hist. and Irish English (north.), ME 19– *lou* /Eng. regional/ (Lancs.), lME *lowre* transmission error, 18– *loh* /Eng. regional/ (Lincs.); /Sc./ pre-17 *law*, pre-17 *lo*, pre-17 17 19– *lou*, pre-17 17– *low*, pre-17 17– *lowe*, 18 *louw*, 19– *lough* /north-east./.
Etymology: < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic /logi/ flame, light (weak masculine; compare log flame, light (neuter)), Norwegian /loge/, masculine, Old Swedish /loghi/, lughi, masculine (Swedish /låga/, låge), Old Danish /loghæ/, lughæ (Danish /lue/)), cognate with Old Frisian /loga/, lōga flame, fire (weak masculine), Middle High German /lohe/ weak masculine (also feminine in regional use; German /Lohe/ feminine), and further with Old Saxon /logna/ or lōgna flame, blaze (strong feminine and weak feminine) < an ablaut variant (zero grade) of the Indo-European base of leye n. and light n.1
Chiefly Sc. and Eng. regional (north.).
*1.* Flame, fire; (as a count noun) a flame, a fire; a blaze. Also: the gleam or glow of a fire, flame, etc.
Recorded earliest in on lowe at Phrases 1.
?/c/1200 /Ormulum/ (Burchfield transcript) l. 16185 Teȝȝ alle þrenngdenn ut. Off all þatt miccle temmple. All alls itt wære all oferr hemm O loȝhe.
a/1250 (▸?a1200) /Ancrene Riwle/ (Titus) (1963) 129 Cherubines sword..of lohe [?/c/1225 /Cleo. lei; a/1250 /Nero lai].
/a/1325 (▸c1250) /Gen. & Exod./ (1968) l. 643 Al-so hege ðe lowe sal gon, So ðe flod flet de dunes on.
a/1400 (▸a1325) /Cursor Mundi/ (Vesp.) l. 5739 (/MED), Him thoght brennand he sagh a tre, Als it wit lou war al vm-laid.
/a/1425 (▸a1400) /Prick of Conscience/ (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 9431 Lowe and reke with stormes melled.
1488 (▸c1478) Hary /Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace/ (Adv.) (1968–9) viii. l. 1054 The rude low rais full heych adown that hauld.
1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy /Hist. Rome/ (S.T.S.) i. xvi. 88 His hede apperit (as It war blesand) in ane rede low.
/a/1627 A. Craig /Pilgrime & Heremite/ (1631) sig. A2v, The Coale that mee burnes to the bone, will I blow, Though Liver, Lungs, and Lights, fly vp in a low.
1786 R. Burns /Poems & Songs/ (1968) I. 104 By my ingle-lowe I saw..A tight, outlandish Hizzie.
1816 Scott /Black Dwarf/ iii, in /Tales of my Landlord/ 1st Ser. I. 68 The low of the candle, if the wind wad let it bide steady.
1849 C. Brontë /Shirley/ I. iv. 76 A verse blazing wi’ a blue brimstone low.
1896 S. R. Crockett /Grey Man/ i. 6 A circle of faces that shone fierce and dark in the lowe of the furnace.
1924 A. Gray /Any Man’s Life/ 44 By the lowe o’ the fire I wad look at your bonny hair.
1978 /Jrnl. Lakeland Dial. Soc./ (1979) No. 40. 42 A peet fire wid a gud lowe..oft lit up menny a happy pictur..int’ farm et Hill Top.
2001 J. Paisley /Not for Glory/ 80 He laid the sticks oan the paper, lit it an watched the lowes blacken an curl it till it caught.
*2.* /fig./ (chiefly poet.). A burning or passionate feeling, esp. of love. Now rare.
a/1425 /Rule St. Benet/ (Lansd.) (1902) 44 (/MED), And loke þat þe lowe of envie and hateredin ne brenne noht hir herte.
a/1450 (▸c1412) T. Hoccleve /De Regimine Principum/ (Harl. 4866) l. 3108 (/MED), A Prince mot..his angir refreyne..hym owyþ knowe His errour and qwenche þat firy lowe.
/c/1586 J. Stewart /Poems/ (1913) II. 20 Ȝit sall I biet the low, Low quhilk combuirs my ardent douce desyre.
1603 /Philotus/ lv. sig. C2, The raging low, the feirce and flaming fyre That dois my breist and body al combure.
1786 R. Burns /Poems/ 178 The sacred lowe o’ weel plac’d love, Luxuriantly indulge it.
1812 /Scots Mag./ Dec. 944/2 The leal lowe of love lights each blythe maiden’s e’e.
1885 R. F. Burton tr. /Arabian Nights’ Entertainm./ III. cxxxiv. 30 Thou knowest how I fry in flaming lowe of love.
1888 B. R. Anderson /Broken Lights/ 98 Dat’s da only plan love kens to raise a lowe.
1913 J. L. Waugh /Cracks wi’ Robbie Doo/ 45 The fire at which the torch o’ early love was lit is seldom the yin that keeps the lowe alunt in the days that are to come.
1926 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ /Penny Wheep/ 25 Wha sauch-like i’ the lowe o’ luve Lies sabbin’ noo!
*3.* /Eng. regional/ (north.).
*a.* A small candle or other naked flame, used as a light by miners. Now hist.
1793 /Northumberland Garland/ 67 The low it went out, and my marrow went wrang.
1816 J. H. H. Holmes /Treat. Coal Mines Durham & Northumberland/ 76 On getting to the bottom of a shaft the appearance is truly grotesque and dismal; rugged roofs..just shown by the miserable light of a miner’s low.
1853 /Trapper’s Petition/ in /True Briton/ 28 July 899/2 ‘Tis very dark, and that small low You gave me, soon will burn away.
1881 R. W. Raymond /Gloss. Mining & Metall. Terms/ 55 A ‘piece of lowe’ is part of a candle.
1920 A. H. Fay /Gloss. Mining & Mineral Industry/ 409/1 /Low/, a candle or other naked light carried by a miner. Also spelled Lowe.
2002 D. Norman /Catch of Consequence/ (2003) xvii. 317 ‘Gi’ us your lowe.’ He took both candles and held them up.
*b.* A type of torch used in the catching of salmon; the light cast by this. Now rare.
1814 J. Hodgson in J. Raine /Mem. J. Hodgson/ (1857) I. 146 For making lows or fish-lights for fishing in the night.
1856 T. Arkle in /Denham Tracts/ (1892) I. 315 This used to be done with a low and a leister.
1897 H. A. Macpherson /Hist. Fowling/ vii. 61 One of the Esk poachers..told me that the reflection of the lantern or candles, cast upon the fish, is still known to the members of his fraternity as the ‘Lowe’ or ‘Low’.
Phrases
*P1.* in (also on) (a) lowe: on fire, alight, in flames (freq. to set in a lowe and variants). Also fig./ /Sc. in later use.
?/c/1200O loȝhe [see sense 1].
c/1390 (▸?c1350) /Joseph of Arimathie/ (1871) l. 687 (/MED), Heom þouȝte he leomede as liht al on a lowe.
?/c/1422 T. Hoccleve /Ars Sciendi Mori/ l. 703 in /Minor Poems/ (1892) i. 204 Whan þat a greet toun set is on a lowe.
a/1450 (▸a1338) R. Mannyng /Chron./ (Lamb.) (1887) i. l. 14692 (/MED), Þe fir, þe tonder, þe brymston hot, Kyndled on lowe, & vp hit smot.
1597 A. Montgomerie /Cherrie & Slae/ 731 Wil, flatterit him,..And set him in ane low.
1613 S. Hutton tr. J. M. de Franchis /Of Most Auspicatious Marriage/ iii. cix. 65 The waxen Torch no sooner feeles The scorching heat of Lemnius fire approaching: But straight’s on low.
1736 A. Ramsay /Let./ 10 May in /Scots Mag./ Aug. (1784) 397/2 Then, then my saul was in a low.
1815 Scott /Guy Mannering/ I. x. 159 She [/sc./ a vessel] was../in a light low/.
1838 A. Rodger /Poems/ 257 They’ve torn her mantle, an’ her curch They’ve set on lowe.
1865 G. MacDonald /Alec Forbes/ I. viii. 51 Ye wad hae the hoose in a low aboot oor lugs.
1901 G. D. Brown /House with Green Shutters/ xxi. 221 ‘You could set fire to his braith!’ cried Wabster. ‘A match to his mouth would send him in a lowe.’ ‘A living gas jet!’ said Brown.
1986 B. Holton tr. S. Nai’an /Mossflow/ in /Edinb. Rev./ Aug. 18 Shi Jin gaed ti the midmaist haa an set it in a lowe.
*P2.* /Sc./to take (a) lowe: to catch fire. Also fig.
1699 G. Turnbull /Diary/ 20 Feb. in /Misc. Sc. Hist. Soc./ (1893) *1* 381 Being in the chamber alone att the fire his cloths tooke low, and were all burnt.
1722 A. Ramsay /Three Bonnets/ ii. 103 Soon my beard will tak’ a low.
1764 W. Hunter /Black Bird/ 136 There was an auld wife had a wie pickle tow, And she wad gae try the spinning o’t, But louten her down, her rock [/i.e./ flax] took a low, And that was an ill beginning o’t.
1814 W. Nicholson /Tales/ 124 To light her pipe she thought nae sin in—Teazin’ her tow; Countin’ wi’ care her costs an’ winnin’, The stock took low!
1983 /Chapman/ *37* 44 A reid dawin. Sun and Yirth jurmummelt. A bairn’s face taks lowe i the causey.
*P3.* /Sc./to set lowe to: to set fire to.
1823 E. Logan /St. Johnstoun/ III. vi. 147 Gie us our noble Yearl, or we’ll set low to the lodging, and smeek ye out!
1889 H. Johnston /Chron. Glenbuckie/ 19 Just put a fingerfu’ o’ poother i’ the pan, and set lowe to it wi’ a bit o’ match-paper.
1986 R. A. Jamieson /Shoormal/ 32 Kerry da neidfyre t’da herths o wir warld An dere set lowe t’fresh dry hedder.