A.“βοῦ” A. Fr.421, S.Fr.280: acc. “βοῦν” IG12.45A11, etc., “βῶν” Il.7.238 and Dor., IG4.914.18, al. (Epid.), SIG56.16 (Argos), Theoc.27.64, Ion. and poet. also “βόα” Pherecyd.162 J., AP9.255 (Phil.): dual “βόε” Hes.Op. 436: pl., nom. βόες, rarely contr. “βοῦς” Ar.Fr.760, Plu.Aem.33, etc.: gen.βοῶν, contr. “βῶν” Hes.Th.983; Bocot. “βουῶν” IG7.3171.45: dat. βουσί, Ep. “βόεσσι, βοσί” AP7.622 (Antiphil.); Boeot. “βούεσσι” IG7.3171.38: acc. “βόας” Il.5.556, al., “βοῦς” 1.154, al., S.Aj.175 (lyr.), and Att., Antiph. 172.5, etc. (but later “βόας” Ev.Jo.2.14, POxy.729.16 (ii A. D.), etc.):—bullock, bull, ox, or cow, in pl. cattle, commonly fem.: to mark the male Hom. adds a word, “β. ἄρσην” Il.20.495; or “ταῦρος β.” 17.389; as a measure of value, “βοὸς ἄξιον” 23.885, cf. 7.474 and v. ἀλφεσίβοιος, ἑκατόμβοιος.
2. metaph. of any dam or mother, “μία β. Κρηθεῖ τε μάτηρ καὶ Σαλμωνεῖ” Pi.P.4.142; “ἄπεχε τῆς β. τὸν ταῦρον” A.Ag.1125.
II. = βοείη or βοέη (always fem.), ox-hide shield, “νωμῆσαι βῶν” Il.7.238; “τυκτῇσι βόεσσιν” 12.105; βόας αὔας ib.137; “γέρρα λευκῶν β.” X.An.5.4.12.
III. a fish, perh. Notidanus griseus, Arist.HA540b17, Fr. 280.
2. a fish of the Nile, Str.17.2.4.
V. seam, Poll.7.65.
VI. the constellation Taurus, Max.162.
VII. = μάστιξ, Hsch.
VIII. prov., “β. ἐπὶ γλώσσης ἐπιβαίνων” Thgn.815; “βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσῃ βέβηκε” A.Ag.36; of people who keep silence from some weighty reason, “τὸν βοῦν ἐπιτίθημι τῇ γλώττῃ” Jul.Or.7.218a; βοῦς ἐμβαίνει μέγας Strattis 67 (wrongly expld. by Zen.2.70, etc., of bribery with coins bearing type of ox); β. ἐν πόλει 'bull in a china-shop', Diogcnian.3.67; β. ἐν αὐλίῳ, of a useless person, Cratin.32; β. λύρας 'pearls before swine', Macho ap.Ath.8.349c. (βοῦς (from βωύς, Skt. gaús) acc. βῶν (Skt. gā´m) are old forms: stem βωϝ-βοϝ-, cf. Lat. (Umbr.) bos, etc.)