kowtow (kowtows 3rd person present) (kowtowing present participle) (kowtowed past tense & past participle ), kow-tow If you say that someone kowtows to someone else, you are criticizing them because they are too eager to obey or be polite to someone in authority.
INFORMAL verb
(disapproval)
See how stupidly they kow-tow to persons higher in the hierarchy. V to n, Also V