Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To lessen the courage or resolution of; dishearten or intimidate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fright; a check.
  • To tame.
  • To subdue; conquer; overcome.
  • To subdue the courage of; cause to quail; check by fear of danger; intimidate; discourage.
  • To cast down through fear or apprehension; cow down.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To overcome; to conquer.
  • transitive verb To repress or subdue the courage of; to check by fear of danger; to cow; to intimidate; to dishearten.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To discourage, intimidate.
  • verb To overwhelm.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cause to lose courage

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin domitāre, frequentative of domāre, to tame; see demə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English daunten (also, to tame), from Old French danter, from Latin domitare (to tame); compare domare, to tame, conquer

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