What is "sowbug"

Sow \Sow\, n. [OE. sowe, suwe, AS. sugu, akin to s[=u], D. zog, zeug, OHG. s[=u], G. sau, Icel. s[=y]r, Dan. so, Sw. sugga, so, L. sus. Gr. "y^s, sy^s, Zend. hu boar; probably from the root seen in Skr. s[=u] to beget, to bear; the animal being named in allusion to its fecundity. [root]294. Cf. Hyena, Soil to stain, Son, Swine.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) The female of swine, or of the hog kind.

2. (Zo["o]l.) A sow bug.

3. (Metal.)

   1. A channel or runner which receives the rows of molds in the pig bed.

   2. The bar of metal which remains in such a runner.

   3. A mass of solidified metal in a furnace hearth; a salamander.

4. (Mil.) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, or the like.
   --Craig.

   Sow bread. (Bot.) See Cyclamen.

   Sow bug, or Sowbug (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of terrestrial Isopoda belonging to Oniscus, Porcellio, and allied genera of the family Oniscid[ae]. They feed chiefly on decaying vegetable substances.

   Sow thistle [AS. sugepistel] (Bot.), a composite plant ( Sonchus oleraceus) said to be eaten by swine and some other animals.

n. A woodlouse, one of any of the five thousand species in suborder Oniscidea.

1. redirect woodlouse

THE INTERWEB WAS HERE.