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white feather

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white feather

 
Use white feather in a Sentence
–noun Chiefly British.
1. a symbol of cowardice.
—Idiom
2. show the white feather, to behave in a cowardly manner.
Origin:
1775–85; orig. from a white feather in a gamecock's tail, taken as a sign of inferior breeding and hence of poor fighting qualities
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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white feather  
n.  A sign of cowardice.

[From the belief that a gamecock with a white feather in its tail was a poor fighter.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

white feather 
as a symbol of cowardice, 1785, supposedly from game-cocks, "where having a white feather, is proof he is not of the true game breed" [Grose].
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

white feather

see show the white feather.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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