1.  To scatter, as seed, upon the earth; to plant by strewing; as, to sow wheat. Also used figuratively: To spread abroad; to propagate. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
"A sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside." [1913 Webster]
"And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers." [1913 Webster]

2.  To scatter seed upon, in, or over; to supply or stock, as land, with seeds. Also used figuratively: To scatter over; to besprinkle. [1913 Webster]
"The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, . . . and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles." [1913 Webster]
"[He] sowed with stars the heaven." [1913 Webster]
"Now morn . . . sowed the earth with orient pearl." [1913 Webster]

   To scatter seed for growth and the production of a crop; -- literally or figuratively. [1913 Webster]
"They that sow in tears shall reap in joi." [1913 Webster]

sow, v.tr. (past sowed; past part. sown or sowed)
1 (also absol.) a scatter (seed) on or in the earth. b (often foll. by with) plant (a field etc.) with seed.
2 initiate; arouse (sowed doubt in her mind).
3 (foll. by with) cover thickly with.

Idiom:
sow the seed (or seeds) of first give rise to; implant (an idea etc.).

Derivative:
sower n. sowing n.

sow, n.
1 a a female adult pig, esp. after farrowing. b a female guinea-pig. c the female of some other species.
2 a the main trough through which molten iron runs into side-channels to form pigs. b a large block of iron so formed.
3 (in full sow bug) esp. US a woodlouse.

Etymology:
OE sugu

VB  disperse, scatter, sow, broadcast, disseminate, diffuse, shed, spread, bestrew, overspread, dispense, disband, disembody, dismember, distribute, apportion, blow off, let out, dispel, cast forth, draught off, strew, straw, strow, ted, spirtle, cast, sprinkle, issue, deal out, retail, utter, resperse, intersperse, set abroach, circumfuse, turn adrift, cast adrift, scatter to the winds, spread like wildfire, disperse themselves.

N  animal, animal kingdom, fauna, brute creation, beast, brute, creature, critter, wight, created being, creeping thing, living thing, dumb animal, dumb creature, zoophyte, mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, crustacean, shellfish, mollusk, worm, insect, arthropod, microbe, microbe, animalcule, alligator, crocodile, saurian, dinosaur (extinct), snake, serpent, viper, eft, asp, aspick, frog, toad, trout, bass, tuna, muskelunge, sailfish, sardine, mackerel, ant, mosquito, bee, honeybee, tardigrade, spider, biped, quadruped, webfoot, flocks and herds, live stock, domestic animals, wild animals, game, ferae naturae, beasts of the field, fowls of the air, denizens of the sea, black game, black grouse, blackcock, duck, grouse, plover, rail, snipe, horse, cattle, kine, ox, bull, bullock, cow, milch cow, calf, heifer, shorthorn, sheep, lamb, lambkin, ewe, ram, tup, pig, swine, boar, hog, sow, steer, stot, tag, teg, bison, buffalo, yak, zebu, dog, cat, dog, hound, pup, puppy, whelp, cur, mongrel, house dog, watch dog, sheep dog, shepherd's dog, sporting dog, fancy dog, lap dog, toy dog, bull dog, badger dog, mastiff, blood hound, grey hound, stag hound, deer hound, fox hound, otter hound, harrier, beagle, spaniel, pointer, setter, retriever, Newfoundland, water dog, water spaniel, pug, poodle, turnspit, terrier, fox terrier, Skye terrier, Dandie Dinmont, collie, feline, puss, pussy, grimalkin, gib cat, tom cat, fox, Reynard, vixen, stag, deer, hart, buck, doe, roe, caribou, coyote, elk, moose, musk ox, sambar, bird, poultry, fowl, cock, hen, chicken, chanticleer, partlet, rooster, dunghill cock, barn door fowl, feathered tribes, feathered songster, singing bird, dicky bird, canary, warbler, finch, aberdevine, cushat, cygnet, ringdove, siskin, swan, wood pigeon, vermin, varmint, pest, animal, zoological equine, bovine, vaccine, canine, feline, fishy, piscatory, piscatorial, molluscous, vermicular, gallinaceous, rasorial, solidungulate, soliped.

VB  cultivate, till the soil, farm, garden, sow, plant, reap, mow, cut, manure, dress the ground, dig, delve, dibble, hoe, plough, plow, harrow, rake, weed, lop and top, backset.

N  woman, she, her, female, petticoat, feminality, muliebrity, womanhood, womankind, the sex, the fair, fair sex, softer sex, weaker vessel, dame, madam, madame, mistress, Mrs, lady, donna belle, matron, dowager, goody, gammer, Frau, frow, Vrouw, rani, good woman, good wife, squaw, wife, matronage, matronhood, bachelor girl, new woman, feminist, suffragette, suffragist, nymph, wench, grisette, girl, sissy, betty, cot betty, cotquean, henhussy, mollycoddle, muff, old woman, hen, bitch, sow, doe, roe, mare, she goat, Nanny goat, tabita, ewe, cow, lioness, tigress, vixen, gynecaeum, estrogen, oestrogen, consanguinity &c, paternity, lesbian, dyke, female, she-, feminine, womanly, ladylike, matronly, maidenly, wifely, womanish, effeminate, unmanly, gynecic, gynaecic, Pron, she, her, hers, ', a perfect woman nobly planned, a lovely lady garmented in white, das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan, earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected, es de vidrio la mujer, she moves a goddess and she looks a queen, the beauty of a lovely woman is like music, varium et mutabile semper femina, woman is the lesser man.

sow bug, sow in, sow one's oats, sow one's wild oats, sow thistle

   Once. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

rolled oats, sow one's oats, sow one's wild oats, wild oats