To cower is to make yourself small because you are frightened — you bend, sink, or shuffle back, as if a blow or a shout might land on you. A dog cowers when someone raises a hand; a child may cower in a doorway during a storm; a person can cower before a bully.

To cower is to make yourself small because you are frightenedcower是因為害怕而讓自己縮小 you bend, sink, or shuffle back, as if a blow or a shout might land on you你會彎下身、往下沉，或挪動著往後退，好像下一秒會被打或被吼一樣 A dog cowers when someone raises a hand有人舉起手時，狗會cower a child may cower in a doorway during a storm小孩可能會在暴風雨時縮在門口 a person can cower before a bully一個人也可能在惡霸面前縮起來

It is about the body showing fear, not about careful planning. You can cower for a second or stay cowering.

It is about the body showing fear, not about careful planning這是身體在表現害怕，不是什麼經過思考的計畫 You can cower for a second or stay cowering你可以只cower一下下，也可以一直維持那個縮著的樣子

The word is a little literary and a little sad; news and novels use it more than chat. It is not the same as crouch (you can crouch to tie a shoe) and it is not a cousin of coward, though they sit near each other in the mind and even look related.

The word is a little literary and a little sad; news and novels use it more than chat這個字有點文學、有點悲傷；新聞和小說比日常聊天更常用它 It is not the same as crouch (you can crouch to tie a shoe) and it is not a cousin of coward, though they sit near each other in the mind and even look related它跟crouch不一樣（你可以crouch下來綁鞋帶），也跟coward沒有親戚關係，雖然這兩個字在腦中很接近，看起來也很像

Coward comes from Latin. Cower comes from older northern European words for staying low, waiting, or dozing in a bent shape; German kauern still means to squat that way.

Coward comes from Latincoward源自拉丁文 Cower comes from older northern European words for staying low, waiting, or dozing in a bent shapecower則來自較古老的北歐語系詞彙，意思是壓低身體待著、等待，或彎著身打盹 German kauern still means to squat that way德文的kauern現在還是那種蹲著的意思