[Ads-l] V.t. "cow" [e.g., to demands]

[Mark Mandel]

>From an ACLU fundraising letter, Sept. 9:
>>>>>
Last May, the NFL cowed to political pressure and announced a policy
banning players from kneeling during the national anthem.
<<<<<

Assuming it's not just a typo for "bowed", this intransitive sense seems to
derive from transitive "cow" 'to intimidate' and its past participle
"cowed", possibly with influence from "coward".

Mark Mandel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org