cower

Etymology 1

From Middle English couren, cowre, from Middle Low German kûren (“to lie in wait; linger”) or from North Germanic (Icelandic kúra (“to doze”)). Cognate with German kauern (“to squat”), Dutch koeren (“to keep watch (in a cowered position)”), Serbo-Croatian kutriti (“to lie in a bent position”), Swedish kura (“huddle, cower”). Unrelated to coward, which is of Latin origin.

verb

1. (intransitive) To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.
   He'd be useless in war. He'd just cower in his bunker until the enemy came in and shot him, or until the war was over.
   Our dame sits cowering o'er a kitchen fire. 1700, John Dryden, "The Cock and the Fox", in Fables, Ancient and Modern, published March 1700
2. (intransitive, archaic) To crouch in general.
   Some sterner virtues o’er the mountain’s breast May sit, like falcons, cowering on the nest 1764, Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller
3. (transitive) To cause to cower; to frighten into submission.
   This done, their doubts will vanish, and they will stand confronted by an object lesson which must have the effect either to arouse them to a determination to banish despotism from the land, or cower them into submission and servitude. 1895, Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industry of Kansas
   My spirit will cower them and make them wish they had never risen up against me. 2007, DJ Birmingham, The Queen's Tale: The Struggle for the Survival of Ireland, page 170
   A vicious Mafia threat intended to cower him—but the chief doesn't cower. 2010, Marilyn Brown Oden, The Dead Saint

Etymology 2

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To cherish with care.