The prow is the fore part of a ship, the stem an its surrounding parts, hence used like keel, by metonymy, of the ship itself. It is often depicted in movies with carved figurehead in the form of a mermaid, a woman in 19th-century dress, or other similar figure. The prow is the part of the bow above the waterline. In old naval parlance, the prow applied to the battery of guns placed in the fore gun-deck.