Definition of "cower"

cower¹

/ˈkaʊɚ/

verb
third-person singular simple present cowers, present participle cowering, simple past and past participle cowered
1. (intransitive) To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.
  Quotations
  Our dame sits cowering o'er a kitchen fire.
  1700, John Dryden, "The Cock and the Fox", in Fables, Ancient and Modern, published March 1700
2. (intransitive, archaic) To crouch in general.
  Quotations
  Some sterner virtues o’er the mountain’s breastMay sit, like falcons, cowering on the nest
  1764, Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller
  The mother bird had mov’d not,But cowering o’er her nestlings,Sate confident and fearless,And watch’d the wonted guest.
  1801, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […]
3. (transitive) To cause to cower; to frighten into submission.
  Quotations
  This done, their doubts will vanish, and they will stand confronted by an object lesson which must have the effect either to arouse them to a determination to banish despotism from the land, or cower them into submission and servitude.
  1895, Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industry of Kansas
  My spirit will cower them and make them wish they had never risen up against me.
  2007, DJ Birmingham, The Queen's Tale: The Struggle for the Survival of Ireland, page 170
  A vicious Mafia threat intended to cower him—but the chief doesn't cower.
  2010, Marilyn Brown Oden, The Dead Saint

cower²

/ˈkaʊɚ/

verb
third-person singular simple present cowers, present participle cowering, simple past and past participle cowered
1. (obsolete, transitive) To cherish with care.

Definition of "cower"

cower1

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

cower2

verb

cower¹

cower²