from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
intransitive verb To cringe in fear.
from The Century Dictionary.
To sink by bending the knees; crouch: squat: stoop or sink downward, especially in fear or shame.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
intransitive verb To stoop by bending the knees; to crouch; to squat; hence, to quail; to sink through fear.
transitive verb obsolete To cherish with care.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
verb To crouch or cringe in fear.
verb obsolete, transitive To cherish with care.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
verb show submission or fear
verb crouch or curl up
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English couren, of Scandinavian origin.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle Low German kuren or from Scandinavian (Icelandic kúra ("to doze")). Compare German kauern ("to squat"). Unrelated to coward, which is of Latin origin.
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Examples
Van Gundy has hinted how he might react to an Orlando title, saying he might "cower" in a "fetal position."
So Wright's opinions didn't change but Obama's of Wright did ... did Obama's view of America change (cuz that would allow for the change of heart on Wright) or did he "cower" in the face of falling poll numbers?
Its meaning in that context is "To draw back instinctively, as from something alarming" but because of the other meanings, there's also a feel or image of a person making himself smaller in fear, which gets us back to "cower" or "cringe."
He warned that "the mistakes of 2002 are being repeated," meaning, he said, that Democrats should never again "cower" before Bush on security issues, as so many at the grass roots saw them doing before the 2002 elections.
Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday fought back against criticism that trying accused Sept. 11 terrorists in New York City poses a risk, saying that U.S. courts have safely tried terrorists, and that Americans should not "cower" in anticipation of the trials.
I would walk right up to them and that shocked them—I guess they thought that a fat person would rather cower behind a buffet than be confrontational about their rudeness.
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