dastard

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (5)  · 
She had called him a dastard, and now stood looking him in the face.

View all »
Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A sneaking, malicious coward.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Brutus was a dastard, an ingrate, a coward and a murderer, and no pretense of patriotism can save him from the contempt and condemnation of mankind. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Shakspere, by Colonel John A. Joyce
  • The study of character is rude and elementary: a man is either heroic or dastard, loyal or a traitor; wholly noble, or absolutely base. —  A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II.
  • I prophesy that thou shalt prove Nor base nor dastard, whom, so young, the Gods Already take in charge; for of the Pow'rs Inhabitants of heav'n, none else was this Than Jove's own daughter Pallas, who among The Greecians honour'd most thy gen'rous Sire But thou, O Queen! —  The Odyssey of Homer
  • "And he deserted you like a dastard She nodded in answer. —  Dieux ont soif. English
  • Hold! dastard--unless thou art dead to every sense of manhood--hold Long. —  The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor Volume I, Number 1
 

Tags

dastard hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 118 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, probably alteration of Old Norse dæstr, exhausted, from past participle of dæsa, to languish, decay.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English dastard, a dullard, prob. formed, with suffix -ard, from a Scandinavian base representing by Icelandic dœstr, exhausted, breathless (= Swedish dial. däst, weary), past participle of dœsa, groan, lose breath from exhaustion; Icelandic dasadhr, exhausted, past participle of dasask, become exhausted, reflexive of *dasa = Swedish dasa, lie idle, whence English daze, q. v. Cf. Old Dutch dasaert, daasaardt, a fool, prob. of same origin. See also dasiberd.
  2. from dastard, n.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/ˈdæstɑərd/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

We are still working on calculating this word's frequency.

Recently looked up

parenthetical · hornet · mora · Kinabalu · session

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich