English

Proper noun

Cowan

1. A surname​.
2. A town in New South Wales
3. A census-designated place in California
4. A town in Indiana
5. A city in Tennessee

English

Alternative forms

• kowan [17th century], cowen [18th century]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, UK) enPR: kōʹən, IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊən/
• Hyphenation: co‧wan

Noun

cowan ‎(plurals include the standard and common cowans, as well as the obsolete cowanis)

1. A worker in unmortared stone; a stonemason who has not served an apprenticeship.
2. (freemasonry) A person who attempts to pass himself off as a Freemason without having experienced the rituals or going through the degrees.
3. (slang) A sneak; an inquisitive or prying person.
4. (in attributive use) uninitiated, outside, “profane”

References

Etymology 2

First attested in 1722; perhaps from the Scottish Gaelic cobhan ‎(“coffer”, “box”, “ark”).

Noun

cowan ‎(plural cowans)

1. (Scotland, obsolete, rare) A fishing-boat.

References

• “† Cowan ¹” listed on page 1,111 of volume II (C) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles [first edition, 1893]
    † Cowan ¹. Sc. Obs. rare^—¹. [? a. Gaelic cobhan coffer, box, ark.] A fishing-boat. [¶] 1722 Wodrow Hist. Church Sc. II. 535 The Earl..resolved to man out..thirty large cowans or fisher-boats.
• “†cowan¹” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [second edition, 1989]

Cornish

Etymology

Compare Breton kaouenn.

Noun

cowan f ‎(plural cowannes)

1. owl