FreeScrabbleDictionary

coward

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
12
Words With Friends
13
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈkaʊəd/ (UK)
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˈkaʊəd/ (UK) · /ˈkaʊɚd/ (US) · /ˈkawə(ɾ)d/

Definition of coward

5 senses · 4 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A person who lacks courage.
    “Near-synonyms: big baby, baby”
    “Cowards dye many times before their deaths, / The valiant neuer taſte of death but once: […]”
    “1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part II Chapter IV, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling He tortured himself to find out how he could make his declaration to her, and always halting between the fear of displeasing her and the shame of being such a coward, he wept with discouragement and desire. Then he took energetic resolutions, wrote letters that he tore up, put it off to times that he again deferred.”
See all 5 definitions

noun

  1. A person who lacks courage.
    “Near-synonyms: big baby, baby”
    “Cowards dye many times before their deaths, / The valiant neuer taſte of death but once: […]”
    “1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part II Chapter IV, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling He tortured himself to find out how he could make his declaration to her, and always halting between the fear of displeasing her and the shame of being such a coward, he wept with discouragement and desire. Then he took energetic resolutions, wrote letters that he tore up, put it off to times that he again deferred.”

adj

  1. Cowardly.
    “It is a coward and servile humour, for a man to disguise and hide himselfe under a maske, and not dare to shew himselfe as he is.”
    “c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act II, Scene 4, He rais’d the house with loud and coward cries.”
    “Invading Fears repel my Coward Joy; And Ills foreseen the pleasant Bliss destroy.”
  2. Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.

verb

  1. (obsolete, transitive)To intimidate.
    “The first he coped with was their captain, whom / His sword sent headless to seek out a tomb. / This cowarded the valour of the rest, […]”

name

  1. A surname originating as an occupation.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coue (“tail”), coe + -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix); coue, coe is in turn from Latin…

See full etymology

From Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coue (“tail”), coe + -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix); coue, coe is in turn from Latin cauda. The reference seems to be to an animal "turning tail", or having its tail between its legs, especially a dog. Compare the expression tail between one's legs. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh). Unrelated to cower, which is of Germanic origin.

Anagrams of coward

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from coward

49 playable · top: CROWD (11 pts)

Best play crowd 11 points

4-letter words

14 words

3-letter words

25 words

2-letter words

9 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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