cowardn.adj.

Brit.

/ˈkaʊəd/, U.S.

/ˈkaʊərd/

Forms: Middle English cueard, cuard, Middle English cuward, couard, couward, couwarde, couherde, Middle English–1500s cowart, cowarde, Middle English cowerd, koward(e, 1500s cowert, cow-heard, cow-herdMiddle English– coward.

Etymology: < Old French coart (cohart , cuard , cowairt , later couart , couard ) = Provençal coart , Italian codardo , < coda , Latin cauda , Old French coe tail: see -ard suffix. 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: compare 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.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [noun] > coward(s)

coward?a1289

hen-hearta1450

staniel?a1500

pigeon?1571

cow1581

quake-breech1584

cow-baby1594

custard1598

chicken heart1602

nidget1605

hen?1613

faintling1614

white-liver1614

chickena1616

quake-buttocka1627

skitterbrooka1652

dunghill1761

cow-heart1768

shy-cock1768

fugie1777

slag1788

man of chaff1799

fainter1826

possum1833

cowardy, cowardy, custard1836

sheep1840

white feather1857

funk1859

funkstick1860

lily-liver1860

faint-heart1870

willy boy1895

blert1905

squib1908

fraid cat (also fraidy cat)c1910–23

manso1912

feartie1923

yellowbelly1927

chicken liver1930

boneless wonder1931

scaredy-cat1933

sook1933

pantywaist1935

punk1939

ringtail1941

chickenshit1945

candy-ass1953

pansy-ass1963

unbrave1981

bottler1994

?a1289 Ancrene Riwle (Cleo.: Scribe D) (1972) 213 He kene þe wes ear cuard [?c1225 Scribe A curre; a1250 Titus kurre; a1250 Nero eruh].

c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 275/139 ‘Ouȝ, ȝe cowardes,’ quath þe king.

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 593 Þou ne schalt me fynde no cowart.

1430 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy i. v Like a coward faynte and hertles.

c1440 York Myst. xxx. 234 Come fore, sir coward! Why cowre ye behynde.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cl He..was vanqueshed of his seruaunte, beyng but a cowarde and a wretche.

1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 26 Gif ony..hid him self as ane cowart at hame.

1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 85 O this conscience makes cowardes of vs all.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) ii. ii. 32 Cowards dye many times before their deaths, The valiant neuer taste of death but once.

1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 125. ⁋9 A Coward flying from his own Shadow.

a1711 T. Ken Edmund in Wks. (1721) II. xii. 344 An earthly Coward is an odious Name, A Ghostly Coward an eternal Shame.

1819 P. B. Shelley Rosalind & Helen 16 He was a coward to the strong: He was a tyrant to the weak.

1883 ‘G. Lloyd’ Ebb & Flow II. xxxiii. 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. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Lagomorpha (rabbits and hares) > [noun] > family Leporidae > genus Lepus (hares) > lepus europaeus (hare)

harea700

wimountc1280

wood-catc1280

babbart?a1300

ballart?a1300

bigge?a1300

goibert?a1300

grasshopper?a1300

lightfoot?a1300

long-ear?a1300

make-fare?a1300

pintail?a1300

pollart?a1300

purblind?a1300

roulekere?a1300

scot?a1300

scotewine?a1300

side-looker?a1300

sitter?a1300

westlooker?a1300

wort-cropper?a1300

break-forwardc1300

broom-catc1300

swikebertc1300

cawel-herta1325

deuberta1325

deudinga1325

fern-sittera1325

fitelfoota1325

foldsittera1325

furze cata1325

scutardea1325

skikarta1325

stobherta1325

straw deera1325

turpina1325

skulker1387

chavarta1400

soillarta1400

waldeneiea1400

scutc1440

coward1486

wata1500

bawtiec1536

puss1575

watkin1585

malkin1706

pussy1715

bawd1785

lion1825

dew-hopper-

1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 8 Cuwaert the hare.]

1486 Bk. St. Albans E v b Huntyng of Hare, The coward with the short tayle [transl. AF. la cowarde ou la court cowe].

†b. A cock which will not fight. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > cock > fighting cock > that will not fight

craven1611

coward1684

fugie1777

1684 R. Howlett School Recreat. 131 If..any of your Chickens Crow clear and loud..then to the Pot or Spit with them, they are Cowards.

c. A horse without spirit in a race.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > racehorse > with particular qualities or faults

sticker1779

rogue1796

first string1865

coward1880

mudder1892

goat1894

morning-glory1898

mud runner1905

mudlark1906

squib1908

1880 Field 22 May 638/2 Don Juan..ran a coward throughout, and Dinna Forget landed her backers with ease.

1884 Illustr. 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.

B. adj. or attributive.

a. Of persons and their attributes: Destitute of courage; faint-hearted; = cowardly adj. 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [adjective]

arghc885

heartlessOE

bloodlessc1225

coward1297

faintc1300

nesha1382

comfortless1387

pusillanimousa1425

faint-heartedc1440

unheartyc1440

cowardous1480

hen-hearteda1529

cowardish1530

feigningc1540

white-livered1546

cowardly1551

faceless1567

pusillanime1570

liver-hearted1571

cowish1579

cowardise1582

coward-like1587

faint-heart1590

courageless1593

sheep-like1596

white-hearted1598

milky1602

milk-livered1608

undaring1611

lily-livereda1616

yarrow1616

flightful1626

chicken-hearted1629

poltroon1649

cow-hearted1660

whey-blooded1675

unbravea1681

nimble-heeled1719

dunghill1775

shrimp-hearted1796

chicken-livered1804

white-feathered1816

pluckless1821

chicken-spirited1822

milk-blooded1822

cowardy1836

yellow1856

yellow-livered1857

putty-hearted1872

uncourageous1878

chicken1883

piker1901

yellow-bellied1907

manso1932

scaredy-cat1933

chickenshit1940

cold-footed1944

1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (1724) 455 In word he ys god ynou, & coward in dede.

1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 22 A! cowarde herte of love unlered, Wherof art thou so sore afered.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Prov. vii. 7 I biholde a ȝong man coward, that passith bi the stretis.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 96 Coward, hertlesse, vecors, iners.

1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xlii. 134 Kyng turnus..sore merueylled that they were..soo coward.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. x. sig. V6^v Nor vndertake the same, for cowheard feare.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. vi. sig. Dd8^v That crauen cowherd Knight.

1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. i. 67 The Don..excites his coward-spirits.

1726 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey IV. xviii. 88 From his blank visage fled the coward blood.

1795 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) II. 762 The coward-slave, we pass him by, We dare be poor for a' that.

1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles iii. xxix. 119 The Father-ruffian of the band Behind him rears a coward hand!

b. Of actions, etc.; = cowardly adj. 2.

ΚΠ

1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets lxxiv. sig. E4 My body being dead, The coward conquest of a wretches knife.

1726 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey V. xxii. 79 Hence with those coward terms; or fight, or fly.

1728 J. Thomson Spring 19 Sneaking Deceit, and Coward Villany.

1853 T. T. Lynch Lect. Self-improvem. v. 131 It is coward unfaithfulness, as well as cruelty.

c. transferred. Of things.

ΚΠ

1807 J. Barlow Columbiad iii. 115 But ah, forbear to tell my stooping sire His darling hopes have fed a coward fire.

1872 J. S. Blackie Lays of Highlands 8 Not here..Lest..our coward keel returning Stint the vow that brought us here.

2. Heraldry. Said of a lion or other beast borne as a charge: Having the tail drawn in between the legs.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > heraldic representations of creatures > [adjective] > having tail > having tail in specific position

cowardc1500

percussed1572

reverberant1572

percussant1688

reboundant1688

c1500 Sc. Poem Heraldry (Harl. 6149) 133 in F. J. Furnivall Queene Elizabethes Achademy (1869) i. 98 xv maneris of lionys in armys..xiij in nomer [morné]; xiiij, liounne cowert.

1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie iii. xxvii. 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.

1864 C. Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. (ed. 3) xvi. §4. 250 Three lions coward in pale.

3. quasi-adv. In the manner of a coward. rare.

ΚΠ

1725 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. ii. 366 Tremble ye not, oh friends! and coward fly, Doom'd by the stern Telemachus to dye?

Compounds

C1.

ΚΠ

1727 J. Gay Fables I. xxxiv. 117 He ne'er like bullies coward-hearted, Attacks in public, to be parted.

C2.

coward-tree n. a tree under which men who show fear in battle are killed, in accordance with the custom of some Zulu tribes.

ΚΠ

1904 G. S. Hall Adolescence II. 720 Such chiefs as Chaka, who united many tribes, had a coward-tree where all who manifested fear were slain after every battle.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	coward
释义	cowardn.adj. Brit. /ˈkaʊəd/, U.S. /ˈkaʊərd/ Forms: Middle English cueard, cuard, Middle English cuward, couard, couward, couwarde, couherde, Middle English–1500s cowart, cowarde, Middle English cowerd, koward(e, 1500s cowert, cow-heard, cow-herdMiddle English– coward. Etymology: < Old French coart (cohart , cuard , cowairt , later couart , couard ) = Provençal coart , Italian codardo , < coda , Latin cauda , Old French coe tail: see -ard suffix. 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: compare 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. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [noun] > coward(s) coward?a1289 hen-hearta1450 staniel?a1500 pigeon?1571 cow1581 quake-breech1584 cow-baby1594 custard1598 chicken heart1602 nidget1605 hen?1613 faintling1614 white-liver1614 chickena1616 quake-buttocka1627 skitterbrooka1652 dunghill1761 cow-heart1768 shy-cock1768 fugie1777 slag1788 man of chaff1799 fainter1826 possum1833 cowardy, cowardy, custard1836 sheep1840 white feather1857 funk1859 funkstick1860 lily-liver1860 faint-heart1870 willy boy1895 blert1905 squib1908 fraid cat (also fraidy cat)c1910–23 manso1912 feartie1923 yellowbelly1927 chicken liver1930 boneless wonder1931 scaredy-cat1933 sook1933 pantywaist1935 punk1939 ringtail1941 chickenshit1945 candy-ass1953 pansy-ass1963 unbrave1981 bottler1994 ?a1289 Ancrene Riwle (Cleo.: Scribe D) (1972) 213 He kene þe wes ear cuard [?c1225 Scribe A curre; a1250 Titus kurre; a1250 Nero eruh]. c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 275/139 ‘Ouȝ, ȝe cowardes,’ quath þe king. c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 593 Þou ne schalt me fynde no cowart. 1430 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy i. v Like a coward faynte and hertles. c1440 York Myst. xxx. 234 Come fore, sir coward! Why cowre ye behynde. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cl He..was vanqueshed of his seruaunte, beyng but a cowarde and a wretche. 1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 26 Gif ony..hid him self as ane cowart at hame. 1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 85 O this conscience makes cowardes of vs all. a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) ii. ii. 32 Cowards dye many times before their deaths, The valiant neuer taste of death but once. View more context for this quotation 1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 125. ⁋9 A Coward flying from his own Shadow. a1711 T. Ken Edmund in Wks. (1721) II. xii. 344 An earthly Coward is an odious Name, A Ghostly Coward an eternal Shame. 1819 P. B. Shelley Rosalind & Helen 16 He was a coward to the strong: He was a tyrant to the weak. 1883 ‘G. Lloyd’ Ebb & Flow II. xxxiii. 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. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Lagomorpha (rabbits and hares) > [noun] > family Leporidae > genus Lepus (hares) > lepus europaeus (hare) harea700 wimountc1280 wood-catc1280 babbart?a1300 ballart?a1300 bigge?a1300 goibert?a1300 grasshopper?a1300 lightfoot?a1300 long-ear?a1300 make-fare?a1300 pintail?a1300 pollart?a1300 purblind?a1300 roulekere?a1300 scot?a1300 scotewine?a1300 side-looker?a1300 sitter?a1300 westlooker?a1300 wort-cropper?a1300 break-forwardc1300 broom-catc1300 swikebertc1300 cawel-herta1325 deuberta1325 deudinga1325 fern-sittera1325 fitelfoota1325 foldsittera1325 furze cata1325 scutardea1325 skikarta1325 stobherta1325 straw deera1325 turpina1325 skulker1387 chavarta1400 soillarta1400 waldeneiea1400 scutc1440 coward1486 wata1500 bawtiec1536 puss1575 watkin1585 malkin1706 pussy1715 bawd1785 lion1825 dew-hopper- 1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 8 Cuwaert the hare.] 1486 Bk. St. Albans E v b Huntyng of Hare, The coward with the short tayle [transl. AF. la cowarde ou la court cowe]. †b. A cock which will not fight. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > cock > fighting cock > that will not fight craven1611 coward1684 fugie1777 1684 R. Howlett School Recreat. 131 If..any of your Chickens Crow clear and loud..then to the Pot or Spit with them, they are Cowards. c. A horse without spirit in a race. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > racehorse > with particular qualities or faults sticker1779 rogue1796 first string1865 coward1880 mudder1892 goat1894 morning-glory1898 mud runner1905 mudlark1906 squib1908 1880 Field 22 May 638/2 Don Juan..ran a coward throughout, and Dinna Forget landed her backers with ease. 1884 Illustr. 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. B. adj. or attributive. 1. a. Of persons and their attributes: Destitute of courage; faint-hearted; = cowardly adj. 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [adjective] arghc885 heartlessOE bloodlessc1225 coward1297 faintc1300 nesha1382 comfortless1387 pusillanimousa1425 faint-heartedc1440 unheartyc1440 cowardous1480 hen-hearteda1529 cowardish1530 feigningc1540 white-livered1546 cowardly1551 faceless1567 pusillanime1570 liver-hearted1571 cowish1579 cowardise1582 coward-like1587 faint-heart1590 courageless1593 sheep-like1596 white-hearted1598 milky1602 milk-livered1608 undaring1611 lily-livereda1616 yarrow1616 flightful1626 chicken-hearted1629 poltroon1649 cow-hearted1660 whey-blooded1675 unbravea1681 nimble-heeled1719 dunghill1775 shrimp-hearted1796 chicken-livered1804 white-feathered1816 pluckless1821 chicken-spirited1822 milk-blooded1822 cowardy1836 yellow1856 yellow-livered1857 putty-hearted1872 uncourageous1878 chicken1883 piker1901 yellow-bellied1907 manso1932 scaredy-cat1933 chickenshit1940 cold-footed1944 1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (1724) 455 In word he ys god ynou, & coward in dede. 1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 22 A! cowarde herte of love unlered, Wherof art thou so sore afered. a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Prov. vii. 7 I biholde a ȝong man coward, that passith bi the stretis. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 96 Coward, hertlesse, vecors, iners. 1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xlii. 134 Kyng turnus..sore merueylled that they were..soo coward. 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. x. sig. V6^v Nor vndertake the same, for cowheard feare. View more context for this quotation 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. vi. sig. Dd8^v That crauen cowherd Knight. View more context for this quotation 1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. i. 67 The Don..excites his coward-spirits. 1726 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey IV. xviii. 88 From his blank visage fled the coward blood. 1795 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) II. 762 The coward-slave, we pass him by, We dare be poor for a' that. 1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles iii. xxix. 119 The Father-ruffian of the band Behind him rears a coward hand! b. Of actions, etc.; = cowardly adj. 2. ΚΠ 1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets lxxiv. sig. E4 My body being dead, The coward conquest of a wretches knife. View more context for this quotation 1726 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey V. xxii. 79 Hence with those coward terms; or fight, or fly. 1728 J. Thomson Spring 19 Sneaking Deceit, and Coward Villany. 1853 T. T. Lynch Lect. Self-improvem. v. 131 It is coward unfaithfulness, as well as cruelty. c. transferred. Of things. ΚΠ 1807 J. Barlow Columbiad iii. 115 But ah, forbear to tell my stooping sire His darling hopes have fed a coward fire. 1872 J. S. Blackie Lays of Highlands 8 Not here..Lest..our coward keel returning Stint the vow that brought us here. 2. Heraldry. Said of a lion or other beast borne as a charge: Having the tail drawn in between the legs. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > heraldic representations of creatures > [adjective] > having tail > having tail in specific position cowardc1500 percussed1572 reverberant1572 percussant1688 reboundant1688 c1500 Sc. Poem Heraldry (Harl. 6149) 133 in F. J. Furnivall Queene Elizabethes Achademy (1869) i. 98 xv maneris of lionys in armys..xiij in nomer [morné]; xiiij, liounne cowert. 1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie iii. xxvii. 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. 1864 C. Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. (ed. 3) xvi. §4. 250 Three lions coward in pale. 3. quasi-adv. In the manner of a coward. rare. ΚΠ 1725 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. ii. 366 Tremble ye not, oh friends! and coward fly, Doom'd by the stern Telemachus to dye? Compounds C1. ΚΠ 1727 J. Gay Fables I. xxxiv. 117 He ne'er like bullies coward-hearted, Attacks in public, to be parted. C2. coward-tree n. a tree under which men who show fear in battle are killed, in accordance with the custom of some Zulu tribes. ΚΠ 1904 G. S. Hall Adolescence II. 720 Such chiefs as Chaka, who united many tribes, had a coward-tree where all who manifested fear were slain after every battle. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online June 2022). † cowardv. Etymology: < coward n. (French has from 11th cent. an intransitive couarder to be a coward.) Obsolete. 1. transitive. To render cowardly or timorous; to make afraid, daunt, intimidate. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > quality of being intimidating > intimidate or bully [verb (transitive)] > daunt (a person's) courage cowardc1300 anarrowc1400 accowardize1480 accoward1481 daunton1535 quail1548 daunt1569 quay1590 disheart1603 dishearten1606 cravena1616 break1619 unsoula1634 unnerve1638 cowardize1648 daff1673 to put (a person) off his (also her) mettle1745 becoward1831 c1300 K. Alis. 3344 Thy tarying thy folk cowardith! 1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 564/2 Y^e which cowardeth a mans harte. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) ii. ii. 72. 1683 I. Walton Chalkhill's Thealma & Clearchus iii. 53 This cowarded the valour of the rest. 2. To call, or show to be, a coward. ΚΠ 1640 H. Glapthorne Ladies Priviledge iv. sig. Gi^v Disgrac'd My noble fathers memory, defam'd Nay cowarded my Ancestors. 1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. New Test. Matt. xxvi. 69 A man that is forwardest in professing Courage..is in greater danger basely cowarded by silly Wenches. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2021). < n.adj.?a1289v.c1300
随便看	tunnel claim tunnel darkness tunnel diode tunnel dish tunnel effect tunnel excavation tunnel house tunnel hut tunnel mining truth-led truth-lover truth-loving truth-relation truth-searcher truth-seeker truth-seeking truth-speaker truth-speaking truth-teller truth-telling truth-worship truthable truthbringing truthclaim truthdesiring

cowardn.adj.

Compounds

† cowardv.