Words I'm Looking Up (One in an occasional cleverly named series on words I'm looking up)

From American Heritage online:

cow: (v. tr.) To frighten with threats or a show of force. See synonyms at intimidate.

bully: (v. tr.) To treat in an overbearing or intimidating manner. See synonyms at intimidate.

I spend a lot of time thinking about words, but never realized before today that, if someone's intimidating you, you're being both cowed and bullied. Gotta love this language.