show - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English schewen, from Old English scēawian (“to look, look at, exhibit, display”), from Proto-West Germanic *skauwōn, from Proto-Germanic *skawwōną (“to look, see”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁- (“to heed, look, feel, take note of”); see haw, gaum, caveat, caution.

Cognate with Scots shaw (“to show”), Dutch schouwen (“to inspect, view”), German schauen (“to see, behold”), Danish skue (“to behold”). Related to sheen.

Wider cognates include Ancient Greek κῦδος (kûdos), Latin caveō whence English caution and caveat, Sanskrit कवि (kaví, “seer, prophet, bard”), Proto-Slavic *čuti (whence Russian чу́ять (čújatʹ) and many more).

show (third-person singular simple present shows, present participle showing, simple past showed or (archaic) shew, past participle shown or (US or rare) showed)

  1. (transitive) To display, to have somebody see (something).
    The car's dull finish showed years of neglect.
    All he had to show for four years of attendance at college was a framed piece of paper.
    I do some sculpturing, but I don't like to show anybody.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.
  2. (transitive) To bestow; to confer.
    to show mercy; to show favour
  3. (transitive) To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate.
  4. (transitive) To guide or escort.
    Could you please show him on his way. He has overstayed his welcome.
    Who can show me to office? -I'll show in.
  5. (intransitive) To be visible; to be seen; to appear.
    Your bald patch is starting to show.
    At length, his gloom showed.
    • 1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):
      Just such she shows before a rising storm.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
  6. (intransitive, copulative, archaic) To appear, look (a certain way)
    • 1891, Maxwell Grey, In The Heart Of The Storm, volume 1:
      […] until the grey wintry dawn paled them, and the chill earth showed ghostly and desolate in the cold light.
    • 1905, R. Johnson Held, S. J. Kopetzky, “Report of a Case of Purulent Meningitis Following Radical Mastoid Operation—Recovery after Operative Interference”, in Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital Reports, number 6:
      The exposed dura showed healthy and was left undisturbed.
    • 1907, Harold Blindloss, The Dust of Conflict:
      He blinked with his eyes, and the damp dripped from his face, which showed haggard and drawn; but Appleby, who wondered if his own wore that look, surmised that this was not due to cowardice, and understood why the man breathed in gasps.
  7. (intransitive, informal) To put in an appearance; show up.
    We waited for an hour, but they never showed.
  8. (intransitive, informal) To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant.
    • 2012, Carley Roney, The Baby Bump: 100s of Secrets to Surviving Those 9 Long Months, Chronicle Books, page 60:
      "My friend is due 2 weeks after me and she has this cute bump. I’m barely showing! Could something be wrong?
  9. (intransitive, motor racing) To finish third, especially of horses or dogs.
    In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.
  10. (intransitive, card games) To reveal one's hand of cards.
  1. (obsolete) To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear.

to display

to indicate (a fact) to be true — see also demonstrate

to be visible

Translations to be checked

From Middle English schewe, from the verb (schewen).[1][2]

show (countable and uncountable, plural shows)

  1. (countable) A play, dance, or other entertainment.
    There were a thousand people at the show.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
  2. (countable) An exhibition of items.
    art show; dog show
    • 2026 May, Julie Belcove, “Farm Fresh”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 93:
      Represented by Olney Gleason gallery, she was the subject of a 2025 solo show at the MSU Broad Art Museum in Michigan and recently unveiled a permanent installation at the Princeton University Art Museum.
  3. (countable) A broadcast program, especially a light entertainment program.
    radio show; television show
    They performed in the show.
    I spotted my neighbour on the morning TV show.
  4. (countable) A movie.
    Let's catch a show.
  5. (Australia, New Zealand, countable) An agricultural exhibition.
    I'm taking the kids to the show on Tuesday.
    • 1924 October 6, The Examiner, Launceston, page 2, column 6:
      E. C. McEnulty, who won the chop at the show on Thursday, cut through a foot lying block in 34 seconds
  6. A project or presentation.
    Let's get on with the show.
    Let's get this show on the road.
    They went on an international road show to sell the shares to investors.
  7. (countable) A demonstration.
    show of force
  8. (uncountable) Mere display or pomp with no substance. (Usually seen in the phrases "all show" and "for show".)
    • 1725–1728, [Edward Young], “(please specify the page)”, in Love of Fame, the Universal Passion. In Seven Characteristical Satires, 4th edition, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson […], published 1741, →OCLC:
      I envy none their pageantry and show.
      The dog sounds ferocious but it's all show.
  9. Outward appearance; wileful or deceptive appearance.
  10. (baseball, with "the") The major leagues.
    He played AA ball for years, but never made it to the show.
  11. (mining, obsolete) A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp.[3]
  12. (archaic) Pretence.
  13. (archaic) Sign, token, or indication.
  14. (obsolete) Semblance; likeness; appearance.
  1. (obsolete) Plausibility.
  2. (medicine) A discharge, from the vagina, of mucus streaked with blood, occurring a short time before labor.
  3. (military, slang) A battle; local conflict. [from 1892][2][4]

entertainment

demonstration

broadcast program(me)

mere display

bloody mucus discharge leading up to labor

Variant of shove,[5] itself a variant of shive.[6]

show (plural shows)

  1. Synonym of shive (“wood fragment of the husk of flax or hemp”).

    • 1765, “Directions for raising Flax”, in Museum Rusticum et Commerciale: or, Select Papers on Agriculture, Commerce, Arts, and Manufactures. […], volume IV, London: […] R[obert] Davis, […] J[ohn] Newbery, […] and L[ockyer] Davis and C[harles] Reymers, […], page 459:
      When the flax is ſufficiently watered, it feels ſoft to the grip, and the harle parts eaſily with the boon or ſhow, which laſt is then become brittle, and looks whitiſh.
    • 1798, [Christian Friedrich] Germershausen, anonymous translator, “On the Means of promoting the Growth of young Fruit-Trees, particularly in Grass-Land. […] From the Transactions of the Œconomical Society of Leipsic.”, in The Repertory of Arts and Manufactures: […], volume VIII, London: […] [F]or the proprietors; and sold by H[enry] Lowndes, […], page 63:
      Laſt year (1793) I tranſplanted, from ſeed-beds, into the nurſery, ſeveral fruit-trees; the ground around ſome of which I covered, as above, with flax-ſhows. Notwithſtanding the great heat of the ſummer, none of thoſe trees where the earth was covered with ſhows, died or decayed; becauſe the ſhows prevented the earth under them from being dried by the ſun.
    • 1942 March, E[myr] Estyn Evans, Irish Heritage: The Landscape, the People and Their Work, Dundalk, County Louth: W[illiam] Tempest, Dundalgan Press, page 64:
      Old houses in the north-east sometimes have a thick layer of flax waste or “shows” under the thatch.

  2. ^ “sheu(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

  3. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “show, _n._1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

  4. ^ Rossiter W[orthington] Raymond (1881), “Show”, in A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms. […], Easton, Pa.: [American] Institute [of Mining Engineers], […], →OCLC.

  5. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “show”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

  6. ^ “show, _n._2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

  7. ^ “shove, _n._2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

From English show.

show

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) alternative form of 騷 / 骚 (sou1, “show”)

show

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to show; to display
  2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to turn up
    no show [Cantonese] ― nou1 sou1 [Jyutping] ― no-show

show

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, eye dialect) alternative form of so (sou1, “to respond; to pay attention to”)

Borrowed from English show.

show n (singular definite showet, plural indefinite shows or **show)

  1. show (play, dance, or other entertainment)
  2. show (exhibition of items)
  3. show (broadcast program, especially a light entertainment program)

Unadapted borrowing from English show.

show m (plural shows, diminutive showtje n)

  1. a show (entertainment)

From English show.

show

  1. show (entertainment)

In plural usually substituted with a synonym, as the word does not easily fit into any Finnish declension category.

Borrowed from English show.

show m (plural shows)

  1. show (entertainment program)

Unadapted borrowing from English show. [1]

show (plural show-k)

  1. show (entertainment, programme, production, performance)
  1. ^ István Tótfalusi (2005), Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára [A Storehouse of Foreign Words: An Explanatory and Etymological Dictionary of Foreign Words], Budapest: Tinta, →ISBN

show

  1. (Lincolnshire) alternative form of sche

Borrowed from English show.

show n (definite singular showet, indefinite plural **show, definite plural showa or showene)

  1. a show (play, concert, entertainment)

Borrowed from English show.

show n (definite singular showet, indefinite plural **show, definite plural showa)

  1. a show (play, concert, entertainment)

Unadapted borrowing from English show.

show m inan or n (indeclinable)

  1. show (large, impressive artistic and entertainment show of revue character with the participation of singers, dancers, circus performers, usually conducted by an anchorman)
    Synonym: widowisko
    Hypernym: przedstawienie
  2. show (impressive artistic performance or demonstration of some unusual skill)
    Synonym: pokaz
  3. show (event or series of events in social, political, or cultural life taking on the character of a spectacle eagerly watched by all)
    Synonym: przedstawienie

Unadapted borrowing from English show.

show m (plural shows)

  1. show (an entertainment performance event)
    Synonyms: espetáculo, apresentação
    1. (especially) concert (musical presentation)
  2. (Brazil, colloquial) an act or performance that demonstrates high skill; spectacle; display; feat
    Synonym: espetáculo
    Aquela aula foi um show.
    That class was amazing.
  3. (colloquial, often used in dar um show) the action of crying or yelling out loud in order to protest or complain about something, often in the context of a discussion or argument; making a scene
    Synonym: fazer uma cena

show (invariable)

  1. (Brazil, slang) amazing; awesome
    Synonyms: espetacular, excelente, maravilhoso

Borrowed from English show.

show n (plural show-uri)

  1. show

Unadapted borrowing from English show.

show m (plural shows)

  1. show, spectacle
    Synonym: espectáculo
  2. (informal) a scene, i.e. an exhibition of passionate or strong feeling before others, creating embarrassment or disruption
    Synonym: escena

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

From English show.

show c

  1. show; a play, dance, or other entertainment.