[perh. a. ON. kúga ‘to cow, force, tyrannize over,’ Norw. kue, Sw. kufva to subdue; but of late appearance in literature; app. often associated with COW sb.1].
trans. ‘To depress with fear’ (J.); to dispirit, overawe, intimidate.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. viii. 18. Accursed be that tongue that tels mee so, For it hath cow’d my better part of man.
1616. Beaum. & Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, II. iv. At that I was held a master in, he has cow’d me.
1641. Milton, Reform., II. (1851), 53. Cowing our free spirits.
1664. Butler, Hud., II. ii. 118/711. For when Men by their Wives are Cow’d, Their Horns of course are understood.
1780. Burke, Let. T. Burgh, Wks. IX. 230. We feel faint and heartless … In plain words, we are cowed.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 565. Their spirit was cowed.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1873), III. 194. The nation, cowed and broken, gave way.
b. with into; formerly also † from, † out.
1648. Hunting of Fox, 47. The Sectaries … have so strangely cowed us out of late, as if God had taken away our hearts.
1685. Crowne, Sir Courtly Nice, I. 2. They are so cow’d from marriage, they will go voluntiers into a battle, but must be prest to marriage.
1847. Bushnell, Chr. Nurt., II. ii. (1861), 256. To be cowed into weak and cringing submission.
1891. Spectator, 13 June, 822/2. To cow men into silence by threats of prosecution.
¶ intr. ? Confused with COWER v.
1844. Fraser’s Mag., XXIX. 561. Instead of ending like a man, he now cowed before me quite spirit-broken.
1887. S. Cheshire Gloss. (E. D. S.), Cow, to cower, shrink.
