Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To kneel and touch the forehead to the ground in expression of deep respect, worship, or submission, as formerly done in China.
  • intransitive verb To show servile deference. synonym: fawn.
  • noun The act of kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground.
  • noun An obsequious act.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See kotow.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun 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.
  • intransitive verb To perform the kowtow. Same as kotow

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To kneel and bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground.
  • verb intransitive To bow very deeply.
  • verb intransitive, figuratively To act in a very submissive manner.
  • noun The act of kowtowing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a former Chinese custom of touching the ground with the forehead as a sign of respect or submission
  • verb try to gain favor by cringing or flattering
  • verb bend the knees and bow in a servile manner

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Mandarin kòu tóu, a kowtow, from Middle Chinese khəw` tɦəw : khəw`, to strike, knock + tɦəw, head.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Cantonese 叩頭 / 叩头 (kau3 tau4) kau3 ‘knock’ + tau4 ‘head’; Chinese Mandarin 叩頭 / 叩头 (kòutóu) kòu ‘knock’ + tóu ‘head’.

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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 2009

  • 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.

    BBC News - Home 2010

  • 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 Peter Foster 2011

  • 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.

    Boom Times For Chinese Internet Start-Ups 2010

  • 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.

    Boom Times For Chinese Internet Start-Ups 2010

  • 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.

    Boom Times For Chinese Internet Start-Ups Jennifer Po-ying Chueng 2010

  • 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.

    Boom Times For Chinese Internet Start-Ups 2010

  • 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.

    Gravity's Rainbow Pynchon, Thomas 1978

  • Only now, in the rush of 'modern progress,' is the doffing of the hat taking the place of the 'kowtow'

    Myths and Legends of China 1909

  • I would like to compliment #2 for a most cromulent use of the word 'kowtow'

    Center for American Progress Action Fund myglesias 2010

Comments

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  • LION

    (sings)

    ...I'd click my heel

    All the trees would kneel

    And the mountains bow

    And the bulls kowtow

    July 9, 2010