cowing
SayKOW-ing/ˈkaʊɪŋ/
- 1Present participle and gerund of cow.
The dictator maintained power by cowing anyone who dared to speak out.
Cowing the witnesses into silence, the gang avoided prosecution for years.
Note
Only the verb stands behind this form. The noun cow, the animal, has no -ing of its own, so the shared spelling causes no real confusion. The verb means to intimidate and is transitive, so the form nearly always takes a direct object: cowing critics, cowing a crowd. As a participle it builds progressives (they were cowing the press). As a gerund it works as a noun (cowing rivals kept him in power).
cowing is a form of cow
cow, verb: To intimidate someone into submission, breaking down their spirit or courage. Full entry
- Spelling
- cow → cowing: add -ing
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