v. Forms: 4 koure, 4–7 coure, 5–7 cowre, 7 (8–9 Sc.) cour, & cowr, 8– cower. [perh. of Norse derivation: cf. Icel. kúra to sleep, doze, Sw. kura, Da. kure, to squat; also mod.G. kauern to cower, of which the antecedents are unknown.]
1. intr. To stand or squat in a bent position; to bend with the knees and back; to crouch, esp. for shelter, from danger, or in timidity.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 2053. Treowe love in heorte durith, Ac nede coward byhynde kourith.
1340–70. Alisaunder, 557. To hur God Seraphin þe gomes gon all Koure doune on hur knees.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 47. He koured lowe To bi-hold in at þe hole. Ibid., 3336. Ȝe … couwardli as caitifs couren here in meuwe.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XX. i. Wynter … causeth a lusty man and woman to coure and sytte fast by the fyre.
1575. J. Still, Gamm. Gurton, I. ii. They coure so over the coles, theyr eyes be blear’d with smooke.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 155. If the Pail be put over the Mans head above Water and then he cowre down, and the Pail be pressed down with him.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 515. Cow’ring and Quaking at a Conqu’ror’s Sword.
1735. Somerville, Chase, II. 291. With humble Adulation cow’ring low.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. iii. Close in her covert cowered the doe.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 550. She remained with her child, cowering for shelter from the storm under the tower of Lambeth Church.
1864. Bowen, Logic, xii. 390. Even the dog cowers at the sight of the whip which has once or twice been used to punish him.
b. Hawking. (See quot.)
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl. Cowring, in falconry, the quivering of young hawks, who shake their wings, in sign of obedience to the old ones.
c. pa. pple. = Cowering. (Cf. huddled.) rare.
1855. Mrs. Gaskell, North & S., xxii. I left them cowered up in a small room.
2. trans. To lower, bend down. rare.
1790. Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 179. But here my muse her wing maun cour; Sic flights are far beyond her pow’r.
1819. Byron, Juan, III. xxxii. The patriarch of the flock all gently cowers His sober head.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xxvii. (1848), 316. I have … Cowered my powers, and becalmed my course.
Hence Cowering vbl. sb.
1799. T. Pickering, Report Sect. of State, 45. Cowering, it renounces some of its unfounded demands.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., iii. 47. Cowering or crouching is so natural an expression of fear or inability to resist, that it belongs to the brutes as well as to man.
