cowardice
(ˈkaʊədɪs)
Forms: 4–8 cowardise, 4–6 -yse, 4–5 -ys, (4 kowardyse, 5 cowartys(s, kouardise, 6 couuardeis), 6–7 cowardize, 7– cowardice.
[a. OF. couardise (13th c. in Littré), f. couard coward n. + -ise, suffix:—L. -itia: see -ice1. An earlier F. equivalent was couardie cowardy n.; obsolete English synonyms are cowardness, cowardry, cowardship; see also cowardliness.]
The quality of a coward; cowardliness; want of courage to face danger; faint-heartedness, pusillanimity. moral cowardice: ignoble fear of the disapprobation or hostile sentiments of others.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 3066 That day thou hadist heorte of pris: And now art ful of cowardys. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2273 Þou art not Gawayn..Such cowardise of þat knyȝt cowþe I neuer here. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 338 Fule-hardyment the formost is, And the tothyr is cowartyss. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xv. 56 Wrothe of the grete cowardyse of these bestes. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vi. 24 To banish cowardize. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. v. 16 He is a Man..of comely Vertues, Nor did he soyle the fact with Cowardice. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. (1843) 660/1 It was imputed to his cowardice. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Mark vi. 34 It is no cowardice to fly from the rage of persecutors. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 267 It is like all of the cat kind except the lion, remarkable for its cowardice. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 9 Demoralized by cowardice of heart and understanding. |
b. with a and pl.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 372 Among alle cowardisis, cowardise of richesse is þe moste. 1886 Tupper My Life as Author 92 But there is nothing like flight: it is easy and speedy, and more a courage than a cowardice. |
† c. transf. Weakness (of wine). Obs. rare—1.
| 1673 Sir W. Scroggs in Hatton Corr. (1878) 116 The cowardize of wine would turne it into vinegar. |