COWER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cower mean? 

• COWER (verb)
  The verb COWER has 2 senses:

1. crouch or curl up

2. show submission or fear

  Familiarity information: COWER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COWER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cower    ... he / she / it cowers   
Past simple: cowered   
Past participle: cowered   
-ing form: cowering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Crouch or curl up

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

cower; huddle

Context example:

They huddled outside in the rain

Hypernyms (to "cower" is one way to...):

bend; bow; crouch; stoop (bend one's back forward from the waist on down)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Show submission or fear

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

cower; crawl; creep; cringe; fawn; grovel

Hypernyms (to "cower" is one way to...):

bend; flex (form a curve)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

coward (a person who shows fear or timidity)

 Context examples 

I felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise that I saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously by each one of us.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Strong, fearless, and energetic, he had sufficient virtue to enable him to impose his odious vices upon a cowering people for ten or twelve years.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Premier sprang to his feet with that quick, fierce gleam of his deep-set eyes before which a Cabinet has cowered.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To my shame be it, I cowered away from the blow and ran out the galley door.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

In the days before, White Fang had had the wisdom to cower down and submit to a man with a club in his hand; but this wisdom now left him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

She hurried away, and I saw her afterwards seated amongst the bracken, her back turned towards the multitude, and her hands over her ears, cowering and wincing in an agony of apprehension.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

No need to cower behind a gate-post, indeed!—to peep up at chamber lattices, fearing life was astir behind them!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He cowered in the midst of the milky water, as though the vastness were pressing in upon him with overwhelming force, brutally crushing him with its complacent awfulness.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Beyond this circle of death their comrades, bewildered and amazed, cowered away from this black tower and from these invincible men, who were most to be dreaded when hope was furthest from their hearts.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside the tomb, and cowered back.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)