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单词 poltroon
释义

Definition of poltroon in English:

poltroon

noun pɒlˈtruːnpɑlˈtrun
archaic, literary
  • An utter coward.

    come on, you poltroons!
    Example sentencesExamples
    • For reasons best known to themselves, the playlisting poltroons of national radio recently passed on Heartbeat, the new single from this Norwegian singer.
    • I have to share ‘World's Greatest’ rights with a million poltroons.
    • The new history falsely portrayed the British administrators and armed forces of the 19th Century as either tyrants or poltroons, and the settlers as heroic refugees fleeing from an oppressive government in the British Isles.
    • It encourages people to mail or email white feathers to Jonah to remind him that he is a lily-livered poltroon.
    • I knew what they were both thinking, for I was thinking it myself; he was a yellowed-belly poltroon.
    Synonyms
    cowardly, lily-livered, faint-hearted, chicken-hearted, pigeon-hearted, craven, spiritless, spineless, timid, timorous, fearful, trembling, quaking, shrinking, cowering, afraid of one's own shadow, pusillanimous, weak, feeble, soft

Derivatives

  • poltroonery

  • noun pɒlˈtruːnəripɑlˈtrun(ə)ri
    literary, archaic
    • Then thank God a million times that I’m a woman, and know poltroonery and dirty-mindedness when I see it.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • I find that it would be a piece of poltroonery in me to withdraw either the dedication or the dedicatory letter.

Origin

Early 16th century: from French poltron, from Italian poltrone, perhaps from poltro 'sluggard'.

  • French poltroon came from Italian poltrone, a term for either a coward or a lazy person which was possibly based on the Italian word for a bed or couch, poltro or else is from pullus ‘young animal’ (see pony). A story once widely believed was that the word related to archers shirking military service by cutting off their right thumbs, a self-inflicted wound which would make them incapable of drawing a longbow. Poltroon was supposed to be a corruption of Latin pollice truncus, ‘maimed or mutilated in the thumb’, but there is no foundation for this colourful story.

Rhymes

afternoon, attune, autoimmune, baboon, balloon, bassoon, bestrewn, boon, Boone, bridoon, buffoon, Cameroon, Cancún, cardoon, cartoon, Changchun, cocoon, commune, croon, doubloon, dragoon, dune, festoon, galloon, goon, harpoon, hoon, immune, importune, impugn, Irgun, jejune, June, Kowloon, lagoon, lampoon, loon, macaroon, maroon, monsoon, moon, Muldoon, noon, oppugn, picayune, platoon, pontoon, poon, prune, puccoon, raccoon, Rangoon, ratoon, rigadoon, rune, saloon, Saskatoon, Sassoon, Scone, soon, spittoon, spoon, swoon, Troon, tune, tycoon, typhoon, Walloon
 
 

Definition of poltroon in US English:

poltroon

nounpälˈtro͞onpɑlˈtrun
literary, archaic
  • An utter coward.

    come on, you poltroons!
    Example sentencesExamples
    • I knew what they were both thinking, for I was thinking it myself; he was a yellowed-belly poltroon.
    • For reasons best known to themselves, the playlisting poltroons of national radio recently passed on Heartbeat, the new single from this Norwegian singer.
    • It encourages people to mail or email white feathers to Jonah to remind him that he is a lily-livered poltroon.
    • I have to share ‘World's Greatest’ rights with a million poltroons.
    • The new history falsely portrayed the British administrators and armed forces of the 19th Century as either tyrants or poltroons, and the settlers as heroic refugees fleeing from an oppressive government in the British Isles.
    Synonyms
    cowardly, lily-livered, faint-hearted, chicken-hearted, pigeon-hearted, craven, spiritless, spineless, timid, timorous, fearful, trembling, quaking, shrinking, cowering, afraid of one's own shadow, pusillanimous, weak, feeble, soft

Origin

Early 16th century: from French poltron, from Italian poltrone, perhaps from poltro ‘sluggard’.

 
 
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更新时间:2024/12/23 20:32:51