kow-tow

Verb

kowtow (third-person singular simple present kowtows, present participle kowtowing, simple past and past participle kowtowed)

1. (historical, intransitive) To kneel and bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground.
   • When the weather turned cold, the tears that he shed would become frozen like veins; the blood on his forehead from kowtowing would also freeze and would not drip.2013, Wendy Swartz, Robert Ford Campany, Yang Lu, Jessey J. C. Choo, Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 645
2. (figuratively, intransitive) To grovel, act in a very submissive manner; to show obeisance to (someone or something) in such a manner; to bow.
   • I suppose you're going to be nice to Odie and kowtow to Jon and lick the mailman's boots! I don't like you already.1984 December 30, Jim Davis, Garfield (comic)
3. (intransitive) To bow very deeply.

See all 4 meanings of kowtow