Revised as of
3 Jan 2023
Aha, so this is the little stowaway who stowed away in this Word Confusion.
Yep, it’s noun versus verbal phrase, so the captain may find a stowaway onboard, who may have stowed himself away in the cargo hold, but the cap’n will rarely find his sailors stowing away the cargo sloppily.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Stow Away | Stowaway |
|---|---|
Stowaway Fella on the East Coast Mainline by Hilary Perkins is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr. — Stow away your luggage in the overhead compartment. |
Trucking by istolethetv is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — It’s a very young stowaway in the back of this truck. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Phrasal Verb
Third person present verb: stows away |
Noun
Plural: stowaways |
| Conceal oneself on a ship, aircraft, or other passenger vehicle in order to travel secretly or without paying the fare | A person who hides aboard a ship or airplane in order to obtain free transportation or elude pursuers |
| Examples: | |
| She stowed the map away in the glove compartment.
George, can you stow these away in the attic? He stowed away on a ship bound for South Africa. You’d better stow away until the air clears. |
Captain, we have a stowaway on board.
You know what we do to stowaways, don’t you? I believe you have a stowaway aboard ship. We caught this stowaway, sir. |
| Phrasal Verb | |
| stow away | |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English shortening of bestow. | First recorded in 1850-55 as a noun use of the phrasal verb stow away. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Stow Away versus Stowaway
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: stowaway
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Stowaway, <https://visualhunt.com/photo/244499/>, by Jellaluna is via VisualHunt while Man Loading the Shopping into the Trunk of His Car by Polycart is via Wikimedia Commons. Both are under the CC BY 2.0 license.
