cowered


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cowered

cringed, recoiled, crouched as in fear: The puppy cowered in the corner.
Not to be confused with:
coward – a person who lacks courage; very fearful or timid; craven; dastard: She was too much of a coward to go out after dark.
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

cow·er

 (kou′ər)
intr.v. cow·ered, cow·er·ing, cow·ers
To cringe in fear.

[Middle English couren, of Scandinavian origin.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
In a corner formed by two houses, of which one advanced more than the other, she seated herself down and cowered together.
Brightness of midnight was ever around me; lonesomeness cowered beside her; and as a third, death-rattle stillness, the worst of my female friends.
Cecco, bravest of the brave, cowered before his captain, crying "No, no"; but Hook was purring to his claw.
When Armand, with the terrible words, `Look, all of you, I owe this woman nothing!' flung the gold and bank-notes at the half-swooning Marguerite, Lena cowered beside me and covered her face with her hands.
Sure enough the bird settled slowly down upon it, covering it with its wings to keep it warm, and I cowered close beside the egg in such a position that one of the bird's feet, which was as large as the trunk of a tree, was just in front of me.
The black-faced man cowered. "They--won't have me forward." He spoke slowly, with a queer, hoarse quality in his voice.
But when she heard her uncle's name, there seemed to go a shiver right through her; and when they told him to look at her, she hung her head down, and cowered, and hid her face in her hands.
The rabbit, terrified but uninjured, cowered beneath him.
She cowered down by her window and wished, for the first time in her gay young life, that she could die, too.
Monty was sitting up when they reached the hut, but at the sight of Trent's companion he cowered back and affected sleepiness.