▪ I. cowardly, a.
(ˈkaʊədlɪ)
[f. coward n. + -ly1.]
1. Having the character or spirit of a coward; wanting in courage; pusillanimous, timorous.
| 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. 1. (Arb.) 39 Souldiours be not the cowardleste theves. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 251 A..feareful, cowardly, and dastardly loute. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. vii. 6 The Cowardly Rascalls that ranne from the battaile. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 636 Their weak and Cowardly Hearts. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. vi, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right. |
2. Characteristic of or befitting a coward; proceeding from fear or a spirit of cowardice.
| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. v. i. 104, I do finde it Cowardly..For feare of what might fall, so to preuent The time of life. a 1709 South (J.), A cowardly silence in Christ's cause. 1796 Coleridge Ode Departing Year viii, At cowardly distance..secure thou hast stood. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 33 The affront was not only brutal, but cowardly. |
▪ II. ˈcowardly, adv.
[f. coward a. + -ly2. It occurs much earlier than prec.]
Like a coward; with cowardice or base avoidance of danger.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1631, I fayn wolde Wyt þe wytte of þe wryt, þat on þe wowe clyues. For alle calde clerkes han cowwardely fayled. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 379 He..cowerdly consentid to his foly. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 379 Yit had I levir do what I may Than here to dye thus cowerdelye. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 49 Thay..quha dois falslie deny, or cowartlie impugne this chair of peter. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xv. 56, I..do now not basely dye, Not Cowardly put off my Helmet. 1699 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 529 Captain Hodgson's man was cowardly run through the back. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Matt. xxviii. 10 Those apostate apostles, that cowardly left me in my danger. 1890 Besant Demoniac vi. 68 To whom you surrender basely and cowardly without a blow. |