Crossword Genius

Tremble before authority, have to pay crores outstanding (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cower

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'tremble' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'before authority have to pay crores outstanding' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'have to pay' could be 'owe' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'owe' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cower that I've seen before include "Crouch in fear" , "intimidating person?" , "Show abject fear" , "Quail" , "to emulate Burns's wee beastie" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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