recreant, a. and n. Now poet. and rhet.
(ˈrɛkrɪənt)
Forms: 4 recreent, 4–6 -aunt, (4–5 -e), 4– recreant; 4 recrayh-, recreyande, 4, 6 Sc. recryand, 5 recraiand.
[a. OF. recreant adj. and n., (one) who yields or gives up his cause, pres. pple. of recroire: see recray v. and cf. OSp. recreente. On the northern forms with -and, see -ant2. The form creant (a.1) was also current in ME. in the same sense.
The epithet is alluded to by Glanville, and mentioned by Bracton, as a term of the greatest opprobrium. a 1190 Glanville ii. vii, Perennis infamiæ opprobrium, illius infesti et inverecundi verbi quod in ore victi turpiter sonat consectivum. a 1260 Bracton iii. ii. xxxiv. §2 Non sufficit..nisi dicat illud verbum odiosum, quod recreantus sit.]
A. adj.
1. Confessing oneself to be overcome or vanquished; surrendering, or giving way, to an opponent; hence, cowardly, faint-hearted, craven, afraid. a. In predicative use, after to be or become, to yield (oneself), to make, etc. † Also const. with inf.
| 13.. Sir Beues (MS. A.) 1042 Ich me ȝelde, Recreaunt, to þe, in þis felde. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 9 With dynt of suerde & drede he mad þam recreant. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 258 He..sua stonait the remanand, That thai war weill neir recryand. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xxiii, To yelde me vnto the as recreaunt I had leuer dye than to be soo shamed. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxxxi. [lxxvii.] 242 That it sholde not be sayd that the Frensshemen were recreaunt to have made that voyage. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. iii. (1599) 122 Other peeces of good ability to defend them selues, became recreant, and yeelded. 1634 Heywood Maidenhead Lost v. Ij b, Yeeld thy selfe recreant, villaine, or thou dy'st. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. ii. 415 From out the bars to force his opposite, Or kill or make him recreant on the plain. 1781 Cowper Anti-Thelyphth. 122 He that does not..Is recreant, and unworthy of his spurs. |
b. In attrib. use. († Occas. placed after the n.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶624 Like the Coward Champion recreant þat seith creaunt withouten nede. c 1400 Rowland & O. 342 Send vnto Rowlande..I calle hym recreyande knyghte. c 1477 Caxton Jason 90 b, That I be poynted with the finger a reproche and cowardise and as a right recreant knighte. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. Prol. 119 Becum thow cowart, craudoun recryand. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 129 Hang a Calues-skin on those recreant limbs. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 139 When those that Marshall'd them, Could not with-hold from flight their recreant men. 1725 Pope Odyss. vi. 11 Then great Nausithous..retreating from the sound of war The recreant nation to fair Scheria led. 1753 Richardson Grandison I. xxvii. 198 What a recreant figure must he make even to himself. 1813 Byron Corsair ii. x, The loud recreant wretch who boasts and flies. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 317 It was his resolute bearing which had shamed..the recreant nobles of Rome from deserting the fast sinking ship of the State. |
2. Unfaithful to duty; false, apostate. a. In predicative use. Const. to, † from.
| 1643 Milton Divorce ii. iii. Wks. 1738 I. 186 If the Law..shall give out Licence, it foils it self, and turns recreant from its own end. 1671 ― P.R. iii. 138 Who..Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and false. 1688 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 453 He writt very severely against the papists and popery, but here of late turn'd recreant, and writt as much for them against the church of England. 1792 Burke Let. to Sir H. Langrishe Wks. 1842 I. 549 Any man, who has not become recreant and apostate from his baptism. 1852 D. G. Mitchell Dream Life 231 You know the careless and the vain purposes which have made me recreant to the better nature. |
b. In attributive use. (Also of an action or condition.)
| 1791–1823 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 286/2 Compelling the unfortunate Bacchanalian to drain the last drop, or expose his recreant sobriety. 1838 Lytton Leila iv. v, That recreant Israelite is he who hath stirred up the Jews of Cordova and Guadix. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches i. 3 To rebuke the recreant American. |
† 3. Worn out, exhausted. Obs. rare—1.
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iii. 109 Now ben the foure sones of Aymon recreaunte & almost wery. |
B. n.
1. One who yields in combat; a cowardly or faint-hearted person.
| a 1400 Sir Perc. 610 With his craftez ganne he calle, And callede thame recrayhandes alle. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. Ep. Ded. (Arb.) 44, I should..cast downe mine armoure and hide myselfe like a recreant. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. viii. 28 You are all Recreants and Dastards, and delight to liue in slauerie to the Nobility. 1799 Sheridan Pizarro ii. iv, Hold! recreants! cowards! What, fear ye death, and fear not shame? 1814 D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. (1867) 402 The recreant, in silence, was composing the libel, which his cowardice dared not publish. 1894 S. Weyman Under the Red Robe xiv. (1897) 337 Like the recreant..who, lying in the ditch while the battle raged came out afterwards and boasted of his courage. |
2. One who breaks allegiance or faith; an apostate, deserter, villain.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 25/17 A recreant, perfidus. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 68, I tell thee, recreant, I scorne thy clownish Arcady with his inferior comparisons. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. iii. 114 Thou Must as a Forraine Recreant be led With Manacles through our streets. 1688 Shadwell Sqr. Alsatia v, Oh this most wicked Recreant. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. ix. 409 Vain will then be the appeals of the recreant. 1869 Browning Ring & Bk. viii. 674 We find Saint Paul No recreant to this faith delivered once. |
b. transf. A runaway (animal).
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. vi. 65 It cost a pull through ice and water of about eight miles before they found the recreants. |
Hence ˈrecreantly adv., ˈrecreantness.
| c 1475 Partenay 4436 A gret oth [he] made..That he wold be dede ful recreantly Or discomfite wold this cruell Geant. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxcix. 693, I trowe there was neuer so vnhappy people, nor more recreantly maynteyned themselfe. 1611 Florio, Recredenza, a belief changed from that it was, recreantnesse. 1895 Chicago Advance 28 Feb. 764/3 Recreantly turning their backs on the sacred doctrine of the rights of man. |