Adjacent Words

Cower definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COWER, v.i. To sink by bending the knees; to crouch; to squat; to stoop or sink downwards.
Our dame wits cowering oer a kitchen fire.
COWER, v.t. To cherish with care. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: crouch or curl up; "They huddled outside in the rain" [syn: huddle, cower]
2: show submission or fear [syn: fawn, crawl, creep, cringe, cower, grovel]

Merriam Webster's

intransitive verb Etymology: Middle English couren, probably from Middle Low German k?ren Date: 14th century to shrink away or crouch especially for shelter from something that menaces, domineers, or dismays Synonyms: see fawn

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.intr. 1 crouch or shrink back, esp. in fear; cringe. 2 stand or squat in a bent position. Etymology: ME f. MLG kuren lie in wait, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cower Cow"er (-?r), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Cowered (-?rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Cowering.] [Cf. Icel. kera to doze, liequiet, Sw. kura, Dan. kure, G. kauern to cower, W. cwrian.] To stoop by bending the knees; to crouch; to squat; hence, to quail; to sink through fear. Our dame sits cowering o'er a kitchen fire. --Dryden. Like falcons, cowering on the nest. --Goldsmith.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cower Cow"er (kou"?r), v. t. To cherish with care. [Obs.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(cowers, cowering, cowered) If you cower, you bend forward and downwards because you are very frightened. The hostages cowered in their seats. VERB: V

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Crouch, cringe, fawn, stoop, squat, bend the knee.

Moby Thesaurus

apple-polish, bend, bend the knee, blench, bootlick, bow, bow and scrape, crawl, creep, cringe, crouch, dodder, fawn, flatter, flinch, get down, grovel, halt, hunch, hunch down, kneel, kowtow, lick the dust, lickspittle, limp, quail, quiver, recoil, scrouch down, shake, shrink, skulk, slink, sneak, squat, stoop, teeter, toadeat, toady, totter, tremble, truckle, wallow, welter, wince