Both Uses

cower
in
I Heard the Owl Call My Name
(Auto-generated)

At the tribal feasts held for the Bishop, it was she who always slipped him a little dish of peas from her garden because he detested mashed turnips, and when he had first come to the village years before, cowering in a canoe under a tarpaulin in a heavy rain, it had been she who held a cup of coffee to his lips because his hands were so cold he could not hold it "And how did you like our river?"†
Chpt 1.3

cowering = showing fear by positioning the body as though afraid of being hit
They went downriver in a torrential rain, the young wife and the Bishop cowering under a poly-ethelene sheet.†
Chpt 3.12 *

Definitions:

(1) (cower)
show fear by positioning the body as though afraid of being hit
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
In classic literature, cower may also mean to crouch or curl up without any hint of fear.