cower
kow er
- v crouch or curl up
- v show submission or fear
- The president declared that he will not be silent or cower to threats on the issue of separation of the country.
- The predicted earthquake did not come in the city, but it's five million people cowered under furniture anyway.
- While our military patrols the world, our embassies increasingly cower behind barbed wire, disconnected from the societies they need to understand and help.