| 释义 |
▪ I. coward, n. and a.|ˈkaʊəd|
Forms: 3 cueard, cuard, 4 cuward, couard, couward, couwarde, couherde, 4–6 cowart, cowarde, 5 cowerd, koward(e, 6 cowert, cow-heard, cow-herd 3– coward.
[a. OF. coart (cohart, cuard, cowairt, later couart, couard) = Pr. coart, It. codardo, f. coda, L. cauda, OF. coe tail: see -ard.
The precise reference to tail is uncertain: it may be to an animal ‘turning tail’ in flight, or to the habit in frightened animals of drawing the tail between the hinder legs: cf. the Heraldic use in sense B 2. It is notable that in the Old French version of Reynard the Fox, Coart is the name of the hare: this may be a descriptive appellation in reference to its timidity; but it is also possible that the hare was so called originally from its tail or ‘bunt’, so conspicuous as the animal makes off, and that the name was thence transferred to ‘hearts of hare’.]
A. n.
1. A reproachful designation for one who displays ignoble fear or want of courage in the face of danger, pain, or difficulty; an ignobly faint-hearted or pusillanimous person.
a1225Ancr. R. 288 [MS. Cleop. C. vi.] He, kene þet was er cueard [v.r. eruh, kurre]. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 275/139 ‘Ouȝ, ȝe cowardes,’ quath þe king. c1380Sir Ferumb. 593 Þou ne schalt me fynde no cowart. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v, Like a coward faynte and hertles. c1440York Myst. xxx. 234 Come fore, sir coward! Why cowre ye behynde. 1548Hall Chron. 150 He..was vanqueshed of his servaunte, beyng but a cowarde and a wretche. 1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates iii. (1888) I. 26 Gif ony..hid him self as ane cowart at hame. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. ii. ii. 32 Cowards dye many times before their deaths, The valiant neuer taste of death but once. 1602― Ham. iii. i. 83 Thus Conscience does make Cowards of vs all. 1709Steele Tatler No. 125 ⁋9 A Coward flying from his own Shadow. a1711Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 344 An earthly Coward is an odious Name, A Ghostly Coward an eternal Shame. 1818Shelley Ros. & Helen 254 He was a coward to the strong: He was a tyrant to the weak. 1883Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 241 You've no conception what a coward this illness has made of me.
2. Applied to animals:
†a. An old appellation of the hare.
†b. A cock which will not fight. Obs.
c. A horse without spirit in a race.
[1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 7 Cuwaert the hare.] 1486Bk. St. Albans E v b, Huntyng of Hare, The coward with the short tayle [transl. AF. la cowarde ou la court cowe]. 1684R. H. Sch. Recreat. 131 If..any of your Chickens Crow clear and loud..then to the Pot or Spit with them, they are Cowards. 1880Field 22 May 638/2 Don Juan..ran a coward throughout, and Dinna Forget landed her backers with ease. 1884Illust. Sporting News 16 Feb. 563/2 If in all stables the young ones were treated as they are at Danebury, there would be fewer rogues and cowards when it comes to racing.
3. Comb.
1727–38Gay Fables xxxiv. xxx. (Jod.), He ne'er like bullies coward-hearted, Attacks in public to be parted.
B. adj. or attrib.
1. Of persons and their attributes: Destitute of courage; faint-hearted; = cowardly a. 1.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 455 In word he ys god ynou, & coward in dede. 1388Wyclif Prov. vii. 7, I biholde a ȝong man coward, that passith bi the stretis. 1393Gower Conf. II. 22 A! cowarde herte of love unlered, Wherof art thou so sore afered. c1440Promp. Parv. 96 Coward, hertlesse, vecors, iners. 1490Caxton Eneydos xlii. 134 Kyng turnus..sore merueylled that they were..soo coward. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. x. 15 Nor undertake the same for cowheard feare. Ibid. vi. vi. 26 That craven cowherd Knight. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. i. 67 The Don..excites his coward-spirits. 1725Pope Odyss. xviii. 88 From his blank visage fled the coward blood. 1796Burns A Man's a Man i, The coward-slave, we pass him by, We dare be poor for a' that. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxix, The Father-ruffian of the band Behind him rears a coward hand!
b. Of actions, etc.; = cowardly a. 2.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. lxxiv, My body being dead, The coward conquest of a wretches knife. 1725Pope Odyss. xxii. 79 Hence with those coward terms; or fight, or fly. 1728Thomson Spring 303 Coward deceit, and ruffian violence. 1853Lynch Self-Improv. v. 131 It is coward unfaithfulness, as well as cruelty.
c. transf. Of things.
1808J. Barlow Columb. iii. 498 But ah, forbear to tell my stooping sire His darling hopes have fed a coward fire. 1872Blackie Lays Highl. 8 Not here..Lest..our coward keel returning Stint the vow that brought us here.
2. Her. Said of a lion or other beast borne as a charge: Having the tail drawn in between the legs.
c1500Sc. Poem Heraldry 133 in Q. Eliz. Acad. (1869) 98, xv maneris of lionys in armys..xiij in nomer [morné]; xiiij, liounne cowert. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xxvi. (1611) 184 This is termed a Lion Coward, for that in cowardly sort hee clappeth his taile between his legs, which is proper to all kind of beasts (hauing tailes) in case of extremity and feare. 1864Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xvi. §4 (ed. 3) 250 Three lions coward in pale.
3. quasi-adv. In the manner of a coward. rare—1.
1725Pope Odyss. iii. 366 Tremble ye not, oh friends! and coward fly, Doom'd by the stern Telemachus to die?
▪ II. † ˈcoward, v. Obs.
[f. coward n. (Fr. has from 11th c. an intrans. couarder to be a coward.)]
1. trans. To render cowardly or timorous; to make afraid, daunt, intimidate.
c1300K. Alis. 3344 Thy tarying thy folk cowardith! 1563–87Foxe A. & M. (1684) I. 541/1 That which cowardeth a mans heart. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. ii. 75. 1683 Chalkhill Thealma & Cl. iii. 53 This cowarded the valour of the rest.
2. To call, or show to be, a coward.
1640H. Glapthorne Ladies Privilege 1, Disgraced My noble fathers memory, defam'd Nay cowarded my Ancestors. 1685Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. xxvi. 69 A man that is forwardest in professing Courage..is in greater danger basely cowarded by silly Wenches. |