Kotow v. i. (past & past part. kotowed; pres. part. kotowing)
1.
To perform the kotow. Now usually spelled kowtow. (Also spelled kowtow)
2.
To defer to another in a servile or humiliating manner; to act obsequiously.
noun
Kotow n. (Also spelled kowtow) Same as kowtow, the more common spellings. (China)
Kowtow n. (Also spelled kotow) 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. (China)
... Wright, and he busts the glass top of his table with his fist. "It's plumb plain to see why. It's them Wisners has blocked our game. They coppered us from the start—that's what! We got in wrong at the start with them; we didn't kotow to them and ... — The Man Next Door • Emerson Hough
... street toddling images meet, And smirk and kotow in a way that is sweet; Their obis are tied with particular pride, Their silken kimonos hang scant to ... — Ponkapog Papers • Thomas Bailey Aldrich