coward
UK /ˈkaʊəd/ · US /ˈkaʊɚd/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun
Forms cowards cowarding cowarded
- noun A person who lacks courage.
- adjective Cowardly.
- adjective (heraldry, of a lion) Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To intimidate.
- proper noun A surname originating as an occupation.
Synonyms
chicken pullet scaredy pants yellowbelly big baby baby bottler caitiff candy-ass candy-arse coistril chicken liver chickenshit cocktail cowardy custard craven dog fraidy cat funker gutless wonder Noel Coward Sir Noel Pierce Coward
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coue (“tail”), coe + -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix); coue, coe is in turn from Latin cauda.
The reference seems to be to an animal "turning tail", or having its tail between its legs, especially a dog. Compare the expression tail between one's legs. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh).
Unrelated to cower, which is of Germanic origin.
From Old English cūhierde (“cowherd”). Doublet of Cowherd and cowherd.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs; --said of a lion.
- adjective Destitute of courage; timid; cowardly.
- noun A person who lacks courage; a timid or pusillanimous person; a poltroon.
- verb To make timoroys; to frighten. [Obs.]
Etymology [OF. couard, coard, coart, n. and adj., F. couard, fr. OF. coe, coue, tail, F. queue (fr. L. coda, a form of cauda tail) + -ard; orig., short-tailed, as an epithet of the hare, or perh., turning tail, like a scared dog. Cf. Cue, Queue, Caudal.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “coward”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details