[kou-erd] 
| 1. | a person who lacks courage in facing danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc.; a timid or easily intimidated person. |
| 2. | lacking courage; very fearful or timid. |
| 3. | proceeding from or expressive of fear or timidity: a coward cry. |
[kou-erd] | Noel, 1899–1973, English playwright, author, actor, and composer. |
| cow·ard (kou'ərd) n. One who shows ignoble fear in the face of danger or pain. [Middle English, from Old French couard, from coue, tail, from Latin cauda.] cow'ard adj. Word History: A coward is one who "turns tail." The word comes from Old French couart, coart, "coward," and is related to Italian codardo, "coward." Couart is formed from coe, a northern French dialectal variant of cue, "tail" (from Latin cōda), to which the derogatory suffix -ard was added. This suffix appears in bastard, laggard, and sluggard, to name a few. A coward may also be one with his tail between his legs. In heraldry a lion couard, "cowardly lion," was depicted with his tail between his legs. So a coward may be one with his tail hidden between his legs or one who turns tail and runs like a rabbit, with his tail showing. |
| Cow·ard (kou'ərd) British actor, playwright, and composer especially noted for his witty and worldly comedies, such as Hay Fever (1925) and Private Lives (1930). |
"Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination." [Ernest Hemingway, "Men at War," 1942]An O.E. word for "cowardly" was earg, which also meant "slothful."
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