kow-tow

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English

Verb

kow-tow (third-person singular simple present kow-tows, present participle kow-towing, simple past and past participle kow-towed)

  1. Alternative spelling of kowtow.
    • 1901 September 1, The Spectator, number 3,819, →OCLC, page 6:
      Prince Chun, who even in Europe would not kow-tow to a European or allow his attendants to kow-tow, will be, we may rest assured, a hero in Chinese eyes.
    • 1940 [1940 July 17], [Clyde] Carr, quotee, Parliamentary Debates, volume 257, →OCLC, page 561:
      I do not believe in kow-towing to anybody
    • 1993 [1991], Clarence Thomas, quotee, Nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , →OCLC, page 158:
      [U]nless you kow-tow to an old order, this is what will happen to you