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)
... Sir George Staunton distinctly and positively affirms that Lord Macartney was admitted to the presence of the Emperor Kienlung, and presented to him his credentials, without performing the prostration of the Kotow—the Chinese act of homage from the vassal to the sovereign lord. Ceremonies between superiors and inferiors are the personification of principles. Nearly twenty-five years after the repulse of Lord Macartney, in 1816, ... — Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams. • Josiah Quincy
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