Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To kneel and touch the forehead to the ground in expression of deep respect, worship, or submission, as formerly done in China.
- v. To show servile deference. See Synonyms at fawn1.
- n. The act of kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground.
- n. An obsequious act.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- See kotow.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive To kneel and bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground.
- v. intransitive To bow very deeply.
- v. intransitive, figuratively To act in a very submissive manner.
- n. The act of kowtowing.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. China The prostration made by mandarins and others to their superiors, either as homage or worship, by knocking the forehead on the ground; same as kotow. There are degrees in the rite, the highest being expressed by three knockings.
- v. To perform the kowtow. Same as kotow
WordNet 3.0
- n. a former Chinese custom of touching the ground with the forehead as a sign of respect or submission
- v. try to gain favor by cringing or flattering
- v. bend the knees and bow in a servile manner
Etymologies
- From Cantonese 叩頭 / 叩头 (kau3 tau4) kau3 ‘knock’ + tau4 ‘head’; Chinese Mandarin 叩頭 / 叩头 (kòutóu) kòu ‘knock’ + tóu ‘head’. (Wiktionary)
- From Chinese (Mandarin) kòu tóu, a kowtow : kòu, to knock + tóu, head. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“They were already prepared to release those two idiots as soon as they could get even a symbolic kowtow from the imperialists.”
Kim Jong Il pardons and orders release of 2 U.S. journalists
“As most Americans see it, their government is not asking other nations to "kowtow" - but rather to enter into a security partnership to avert terror attacks.”
“Yueyue's parents were photographed meeting the woman, bowing down in a ritual 'kowtow' - a public expression of gratitude that she had stopped to help their daughter when so many others had walked on by.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“Page views per day reached over 10,000 during the Qingming festival, when Chinese families traditionally visit their relatives 'gravesites and practice rituals such as kowtow and money offering.”
“Tchitcherine tracks mud off the street into the Center, gets a blush from Luba, a kind of kowtow and mopflourish from the comical Chinese swamper Chu Piang, unreadable stares from an early pupil or two.”
“Only now, in the rush of 'modern progress,' is the doffing of the hat taking the place of the 'kowtow”
“I would like to compliment #2 for a most cromulent use of the word 'kowtow”
“He said some parts of the security programme were "completely redundant" and that the UK should not "kowtow" to the Americans every time the US wanted something done.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“His ascension to the presidency came in a surprise 2002 election win on a campaign pledge not to "kowtow" to the United States, one that resonated with young voters.”
“The Democrats are trying to place Republicans in a bind by giving them a false choice: They can "kowtow" to Limbaugh, or they can denounce him as outside the realm of legitimate political discourse.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kowtow’.
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Reduples
Go for it, brothers and sisters! I personally have been suffering long for lack of an open reduplicatives list
happy clappy, bribble-brabble, diddle-daddle, hugger-mugger, kikiriki, Bora-Bora, mahi-mahi, jingle-jangle, knick-knack paddy..., chit-chat, bon-bon, clapperclaw and 292 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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FUN - gestures
There are thousands of sign languages and possibly millions of gestures in human communication but not all of them have a name. Some are understood everywhere, some are understood everywhere but di...
okay sign, abhayamudra, apology, beckoning sign, Bellamy salute, benediction, blessing, blah-blah, "check, please” sign, clenched fist, Chinese number ge..., Clinton thumb and 360 more...
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WOOZ
Words contained in the screenplay of Wizard of Oz, 1939 film.
Comments show the actual "line" from the film.
The words are tagged for grade-levelpusillanimous, genuflect, cataclysmic, vernacular, peasantry, aver, caliginous, tedious, advent, careworn, bovine, commodity and 34 more...
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Verbages
puddle, kowtow, tessellate, defalcate, embezzle, enkindle, ablate, frivol, moonlight, tongue-tie, gobble, pettifog and 58 more...
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DAY5_01/08/2013
picayune, lagniappe, melee, demur, parvenu, sangfroid, zeitgeist, bwana, nabob, arriviste, amuck, pariah and 6 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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magoosh1
aberration, aboveboard, abysmal, ace, affable, aghast, alacrity, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amiable and 205 more...
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MY COLLECTION
COLLECT FROM DIFFERENT PAPERS,WEBSITES,BOOKS AND MOVIES.
VAUDEVILLE, herbivores, BANDWAGON, PREY, squander, squabbling, Concierge, persuade, dethrone, cacophony, maize, ubiquitous and 98 more...
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pagecrusher's Words
fugu, ilk, rigamarole, superfluous, dearth, sacrosanct, moniker, bifurcate, villainous, onus, brazen, odin and 268 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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thekatespanos's list
pomposity, gaggle, scintilla, lemming, bilk, vanquish, conflate, plenary, verisimilitude, perspicacious, rattletrap, obdurate and 325 more...
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BonMots
assiduous, progeny, hegemony, nascent, reticent, ephemera, zeitgeist, recalcitrant, copious, corporeal, cacaphonous, obstreperous and 108 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
alacrity, prosaic, veracity, paucity, contrite, trite, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious, innocuous and 533 more...
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Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kowtow.
dbekeny LION
(sings)
...I'd click my heel
All the trees would kneel
And the mountains bow
And the bulls kowtow
Jul 9, 2010