bow headed (boheded)

Having a bowed or bent head, as a right whale. bowie (bou'i), n. [Perhaps from OF. buie, prob. same as buire, a water-pitcher, ve el for wine, bowie-knife (bo'ē-nif; in the Southwest pronounced bö'ē-nif), n. [After its inventor, Colonel James Bowie, died 1836.] A heavy sheath-knife first used in the early part of the present century in Kentucky and other parts of the United States which were then on the borders of civilization. The blade is from 9 to 10 inches long, and has only one edge; the back is straight for three IMG:content-2391.png:[graphic][merged small] quarters of its length, and then curves toward the edge in a slightly concave sweep, while the edge finishes toward the point in a convex curve. The guard is very small, and the tongue is of the full breadth of the grip or barrel, which is formed of two rounded pieces of wood or bone. The best knives were made by frontier blacksmiths, of old horse-rasps and the like, and naturally differed much in size and pattern. The term is used at present for almost any large sheath-knife.