show

verb

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.”

   “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”

   “(dialectal) show me the salt please”

3. (transitive)To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate.

   “He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.”

   “2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns A report this year in the Journal of Geophysical Research showed that the glacier has lost 60 percent of its mass.”

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.”

   “Just such she shows before a rising storm.”

   “All round a hedge upshoots, and shows / At distance like a little wood.”

   “'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. (archaic, copulative, intransitive)To appear, look (a certain way)

   “[…] until the grey wintry dawn paled them, and the chill earth showed ghostly and desolate in the cold light.”

   “The exposed dura showed healthy and was left undisturbed.”

   “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. (informal, intransitive)To put in an appearance; show up.

   “We waited for an hour, but they never showed.”

8. (informal, intransitive)To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant.

   “Jessica: "So, um, do you think Bella's gonna be showing?" Angela: "Jess, she's not pregnant." Jessica: "Okay. Who else gets married at eighteen?"”

   “"My friend is due 2 weeks after me and she has this cute bump. I’m barely showing! Could something be wrong?”

9. (intransitive)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)To reveal one's hand of cards.

    “He called instantly but was too ashamed to show until the river.”

11. (obsolete)To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear.

    “My lord of York, it better showed with you.”

noun

1. (countable)A play, dance, or other entertainment.

   “There were a thousand people at the show.”

   “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”

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.”

   “Every day I do my morning 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.”

   “E. C. McEnulty, who won the chop at the show on Thursday, cut through a foot lying block in 34 seconds”

6. (countable, uncountable)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.”

   “It was Apple's usual dog and pony show.”

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".)

   “I envy none their pageantry and show.”

   “The dog sounds ferocious but it's all show.”

9. (countable, uncountable)Outward appearance; wileful or deceptive appearance.

   “So may the outward shows be least themselves: The world is still deceived with ornament.”

10. (countable, uncountable, with-definite-article)The major leagues.

    “He played AA ball for years, but never made it to the show.”

11. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp.
12. (archaic, countable, uncountable)Pretence.
13. (archaic, countable, uncountable)Sign, token, or indication.
14. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Semblance; likeness; appearance.

    “Beware of the scribes,[…]which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers.”

    “He through the midst unmarked, In show plebeian angel militant Of lowest order, passed.”

15. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Plausibility.
16. (countable, uncountable)A discharge, from the vagina, of mucus streaked with blood, occurring a short time before labor.
17. (countable, slang, uncountable)A battle; local conflict.

    “A subaltern, wearing a glengarry, came out of a house, playing with the nose of a shell. He walked a little way with me. “Going into the show?””

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

    “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.”

    “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.”

    “Old houses in the north-east sometimes have a thick layer of flax waste or “shows” under the thatch.”

name

1. A surname.