cowed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of cow.

   The general cowed the rebels into surrender within a week.

   Years of harsh criticism had cowed the young writer.

   Note

   A regular form doing double duty: the general cowed the rebels, and the rebels were cowed by him. Because the verb is transitive, active cowed always takes an object. Without one, the word is usually the adjective. The base spelling is shared with the noun for the farm animal, but the verb's own line runs back to a Scandinavian word for subduing.

2. 2
   adjective

   Frightened into submission, so that one stops resisting and obeys.

   Like a soldier who stops fighting back after being broken down by relentless drilling.

   The cowed employees nodded along, too afraid to question the new policy.

   She came back from the interrogation pale and cowed.

   Similarintimidated, subdued, browbeaten, submissive, meek

   Oppositedefiant, undaunted, emboldened

   Note

   A participle that has settled into a describing word, and it takes degrees: one person can be more cowed than another, a room the most cowed of the day. Its likely Scandinavian roots (compare Danish kue, 'to subdue') explain why submission is built in. Someone cowed is not merely scared but beaten into compliance. Unlike the verb form, it needs no object and sits comfortably after be or look.

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