coward 
Pg. It. coda, < L. caudd, LL. ML. also coda, 
tail: see cauda, cue 1 , queue. The word coward 
has been more or less associated in E. with 
cow 1 , the animal ('one afraid of a cow, 'or 'hav- 
ing the heart of a cow,' whence the accom. form 
cowhcart: see cow 1 , n., 3), with cowherd 1 (as- 
sumedlo be a timid person ; whence the accom. 
spelling of cowherd?, cowhearcf 2 ), with cow 2 , in- 
timidate, and with cower, crouch as with fear.] 
1. n. 1. One who lacks courage to meet danger; 
one who shrinks from exposure to possible 
harm of any kind; a timid or pusillanimous 
person; a poltroon; a craven. 
When Merlin sangh that he dide a-hide, he cried lowde, 
" What, coward, wher-fore a-bideste thow ? whi doste thow 
not that thow haste vndirtaken, (or it is sene that thow 
arte a-ferde." Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 221. 
Coward* die many times before their deaths ; 
The valiant never taste of death but once. 
Shak., 3. C., ii. 2. 
2. In her., an animal represented with the tail 
hanging down, or turned up between the legs, 
as a lion or other beast of prey. Also coue. 
= 8yn. 1. Coward, Poltroon, Craven, Dastard, Pusillani- 
mous (person) express an ignoble quality of fear, or fear 
showing itself in dishonorable ways. Cvtcard is the gen- 
eral word, covering the others, is most ofteu used, and 
is least opprobrious. Poltroon, craven, and dastard are 
highly energetic words, used only in the effort to make a 
person's cowardice seem contemptible. The distinction 
between them is not clearly marked. A poltroon has some- 
what more of the mean-spirited and contemptible in his 
character ; a craven skulks away, accepts any means of 
escape, however dishonorable, from a dangerous position, 
duty, etc. ; a dastard is base, and therefore despicable, in 
his cowardice. Dastard is the strongest of these words. 
A pusillanimous person is, literally, one of little courage ; 
his cowardice is only the most conspicuous part of a gen- 
eral lack of force in mind and character, making him spir- 
itless and contemptible. 
I was a coward on instinct. Shak., 1 lieu. IV., ii. 4. 
Nor ... is the peace principle to be carried into effect 
by fear. It can never be defended, it can never be execut- 
ed by cowards. Emerson, Misc., p. 197. 
West. My heart fr anger burns, I cannot brook it. 
K. Hen. Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmoreland. 
Clif. Patience is for poltroon*, and such as he ; 
He durst not sit there had your father liv'd. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 1. 
Yonder comes a knight. 
... A craven ; how he hangs his head. 
Tennyson, Geraint. 
You are all recreants and dastards ; and delight to live 
in slavery to the nobility. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 8. 
The pusillanimous monarch knew neither when to pun- 
ish nor when to pardon. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa,, i. 3. 
II. rt. 1. Lacking courage ; timid ; timorous ; 
fearful ; craven : as, a coward wretch. 
O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me ! 
Shak., Kich. III., v. 3. 
Is there, for honest poverty, 
That hangs his head, an' a' that ? 
The coward slave, we pass him by, 
We dare be poor for a' that. 
Bvriw, For A' That. 
2. Of or pertaining to a coward; proceeding 
from or expressive of fear or timidity: as, a 
coward cry; coward tremors. 
Be men of spirit ! 
Spurn coward passion ! 
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, v. 3. 
He had no painful pressure from without, 
That made him turn aside from wretchedness, 
With coward fears. Wordsworth. 
cowardt (kou'ard), v. t. [< ME. coivarden, cou- 
arden, < OF. "coarder, F. couarder; from the 
noun.] To make afraid. 
Which cowardeth a man's heart. 
W. Swinderby, Letter in Foxe's Martyrs. 
cowardice (kou'ar-dis), . [< ME. cowardis, 
-ise, -yse, < OF. couardise, F. couardtse (= It. 
codardigia), cowardice, < couard, etc., coward: 
see coward, .] Want of courage to face dan- 
ger, difficulty, opposition, etc. ; dread of expo- 
sure to harm or pain of any kind ; fear of con- 
sequences ; pusillanimity ; dishonorable fear. 
Ye be come hider to hide yow for cowardise. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), HI. 404. 
"Tis not his arm 
That acts such wonders, but our cowardice. 
Lust's Dominion, iv. 2. 
Full of cowardice and guilty shame. 
Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
= Syn. Poltroonery, dastardliness, cowardliness. 
cowardiet, [ME., < OF. couardie, cuardie (= 
Pr. coardia = Sp. cobardia = Pg. cobardiu = 
It. codardia), cowardice, < couard, etc., coward: 
see coward, n.] Cowardice. Chaucer, 
cowardize (kou'ar-diz), .-. t. [< coward + -ize.'] 
To render cowardly. [Obsolete or rare.] 
Wickedness naturally tends to dishearten and coicanlizr 
men. J. Scott, Sermon before the Artillery Company (1880). 
COWardlike (kpu'ard-lik), . Like a coward; 
cowardly; pusillanimous. [Rare.] 
1320 
If I should cowardlike surrender up 
The interest. Beau, and Ft., Laws of Candy. 
cowardliness (kou'ard-li-nes), n. Want of 
courage ; timidity ; cowardice. 
I know not whether he more detests cowardliness or 
cruelty. Bp. Hall, Characters, The Valiant Man. 
cowardly (kou'ard-li), a. [< coward + -fy 1 .] 
1. Wanting courage to face danger, or to in- 
cur harm or pain; timid; timorous; fearful; 
pusillanimous. 
Faithless alike to his people and his tools, the King did 
not scruple to play the part of the cowardly approver, who 
hangs his accomplice. Macaulaii, Hallam's Const. Hist. 
2. Proceeding from fear of danger or harm; 
mean ; base ; befitting a coward : as, a cowardly 
action. 
The policy of reserve has been stigmatized, and some- 
times justly, as cowardly, but it is usually safe. 
II. A . Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 77. 
= Syn. Dastardly, craven, faint-hearted, chicken-hearted. 
cowardly (kou'ard-li), adr. [< coward + -fy 2 .] 
In the manner of a coward; dishonorably; 
basely. 
He sharply reproved them as men of no courage, who 
had most coimrtlly turned their backs upon their enemies. 
KnoUts. 
cowardoust (kou'ar-dus), a. [< award + OMS.] 
Cowardly. Barret. 
Come, you're as mad now as he's cowardous. 
Middleton and Rouiey, Fair Quarrel, iii. 1. 
COWardryt (kou'ard-ri), . [Early mod. E. cow- 
ardrie, coicardree ; < coward + -ri/.'] Cowardice. 
Be therefore counselled herein by me, 
And shake off this vile harted coivardree. 
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale. 
cowardship (kou'ard-ship), . [< coward + 
-*Ay>.] The state or fact of being a coward. 
[Bare.] 
A very dishonest paltry boy, and more a coward than a 
hare : his dishonesty appears in leaving his friend here in 
necessity, and denying him ; and for his cowardship, ask 
Fabian. Shak., T. N., iii. 4. 
cowbane (kou'ban), n. A popular name of the 
Cicuta rirosa, or water-hemlock : so named from 
its supposed injurious effect upon cows. See 
Cicuta. Spotted cowbane, a similar species of the 
United States, C. inaculata. 
COW-beck (kou'bek), n. [Origin unknown.] A 
preparation of hair and wool used for hats. 
COW-bell (kou'bel), n. 1. A bell (usually of 
a rounded oblong shape and dull, heavy tone) 
designed to be attached to the neck of a cow 
to indicate her whereabouts. 2. An Ameri- 
can name of the bladder-campion, Sileite injtata. 
cowberry (kou'ber'i), n. ; pi. cowberries (-iz). 
[< coic 1 + berryl. Cf. bilberry.~\ A name of 
the plant Yaccinium Vitis-Idam or red huckle- 
berry. See Vaccinium. 
COW-bird (kou'berd), . 1. An oscine passe- 
rine bird of America, belonging to the family 
Icteridai and genus Molothrus; especially, 31. 
ater or M. pecoris, so called from its accompany- 
ing cattle, it is 
polygamous and 
parasitic, deposit- 
ing its eggs in the 
nests of other 
birds, like the 
European cuckoo, 
and leaving them 
to he hatched by 
the foster-parents. 
The male is from 7 J 
to 8 inches long, 
glossy black with 
metallic sheen and 
a chocolate-brown 
head; the female 
is smaller and 
dull dark-brown- 
ish. This species is 
very abundant in 
the United States. 
The bronzed cow-bird, M. ceneus, is a larger species, found 
in Texas and southward : there are several others in the 
warmer part* of America. Also coin-blackbird and cow- 
bunting. 
2. A name sometimes given in Great Britain to 
the rose-colored pastor, Pastor (Thremmaphilus) 
roseus. Macgillirray. 
COW-blackbird (kou'blak'berd), w. Same as 
cow-bird, 1. 
COW-blakes (kou'blaks), ii.pl. Dried cow-dung 
used as fuel. 
COW-boy (kou'boi), n. 1. A boy who takes 
charge of cows or drives them to and from 
pasture. 2. On the great plains of the west- 
ern United States, a man employed by a stock- 
man or ranchman in the care of grazing cattle, 
doing his work on horseback. 
Colorado is not a State of homes, and it never will be a 
populous st;ite. Like Nevada, it is a district of miners' 
cabins and of cow-biitix' huts. A'. A. Rev., CXLII. 4(i'2. 
cowheard 
3. One of a band of marauders during the 
American revolution, chiefly refugees belong- 
ing to the British side, who infested the neu- 
tral ground between the British and American 
lines in the neighborhood of New York, and 
plundered the whigs or revolutionists. 
West Chester County . . . was now [1780] almost wholly 
at the mercy of the revolutionary banditti called the Cow 
boys. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xiv. 
COW-bunting (kou'bun*tiug), n. Same as cow- 
bird, 1. 
cow-calf (kou'kaf), n. A female calf. Seefree- 
martin. 
COW-catcher (kou'kach'er), . A strong frame 
in front of a locomotive, for removing obstruc- 
tions, such as strayed cattle, from the rails. 
It is generally made of wrought-irou in the form of a 
coned wedge, having a flat wedge-shaped bottom bar placed 
a few inches above, and extending across and a little be- 
yoiid, the rails. Also called pilot. 
COW-chervil (kou'cher'vil), n. A popular name 
of Chtxrophyllum syhestre, an umbelliferous 
plant of Europe, found in hedge-banks and 
woods, and said to be eaten by cattle. Also 
called cow-parsley, cow-weed. See chervil. 
COW-cress (kou'kres), n. A coarse kind of cress, 
Lepidium campestre. 
COWCUmber (kou'kum-ber), n. A form of en- 
cumber, once in regular literary use, but now 
regarded as only provincial. 
cowdie-gum (kou'di-gum), . Same as kauri- 
gum. 
COW-doctor (kou'dok'tor), n. A veterinary phy- 
sician. Also called cow-leech. 
cower (kou'er), v. i. [< ME. couren, < Icel. Tcura 
= Sw. kura = Dan. kure, lie quiet, rest, doze ; 
prob. related to Icel. Jcyrr, older form krirr, 
quiet, = Sw. quar, remaining, = Dan. krcer, 
silent, quiet, = Goth, kwairrus, gentle, = MHG. 
kiirre, G. kirre, tame. G. Icauern, squat in a cage, 
is from kaue, a cage (see core 1 , cage). W. cwrian, 
cower, is prob. from the E.] To sink by bend- 
ing the knees ; crouch ; squat ; stoop or sink 
downward, especially in fear or shame. 
To hur [their! God Seraphin the gomes [people] gon all 
Koure doune on hur knees [&] karpen these wordes. 
Alummder of M acedoine (E. E. T. S.), L 558. 
Our dame site cowering o'er a kitchen fire. Dryden. 
She cowered low upon the ground, 
With wild eyes turned to meet her fate. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 39. 
COW-feeder (kou'fe'der), n. One who feeds 
cows ; a dairyman ; a cowherd. 
cow-fish (kou'flsh), n. A name of various fishes 
and other marine animals, (a) A sea-cow or sire- 
nian. (6) A dolphin or porpoise. (1) The Tursiops gitti, a 
porpoise of the family Delphiuidoe, of the western coast of 
the United States. (2) The grampus, Glabicephalus melas. 
[New England.] (c) An ostracioutoid fish, Ostracion qua- 
Cow-bird {Molothrus ater). 
Cow-fish (Ostracion yuadricomt}. 
dricorne, with strong antrorse supraocular spines, like 
horns, common in tropical Atlantic waters, and occasionally 
found along the southern coast of the United States. Also 
called cuckold, (d) A local name in Orkney of sundry oval 
bivalve shell-fish, as clams. 
COW-gate (kou'gat), n. Eight of pasture for 
cattle. See gate. 
I scarcely ever knew a cow-gate given up for want of 
ability to obtain a cow. 
A. Hunter, Georgical Essays, II. 126. 
COW-grass (kou'gras),. 1. A species of clover, 
Trifolium medium, resembling the common red 
clover, at one time much cultivated in England. 
2. Same as knot-grass, Polyyomnn aviculan. 
COWhage (kou'aj), n. [Also written co-uhage, 
cowage, and cowitch (an accom. form, as if < 
cow 1 + itch), < Hind. Jcairancli, koatn-li, cow- 
hage.] 1. (a) The hairs of the pods of a legumi- 
nous plant, Mucuna pruriens. The pod is covered 
with a thick coating of short, stiff, brittle brown hairs, 
which are retrorsely serrate toward the top. They easily 
penetrate the skin, and produce an intolerable Itching. 
They are employed medicinally as a mechanical vermifuge. 
(b) The entire pods of 11. pruriens. (c) The 
plant itself. 2. In the West Indies, a euphor- 
biaceous shrub, Acidoton urens, bearing cap- 
sules covered with stinging hairs. The twiniiu.' 
cowhage of the same region is a woody climl>er of the same 
order, Tratjia volubilis, with hispid capsules. Cowhage 
Cherry. - s <-e Barbadox cherry, under t'A. /-///' . 
COWheard 1 t, An obsolete form of cowherd 1 . 
