Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Timid; cowardly; white-livered.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective White-livered; cowardly; timorous.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
cowardly ;timorous
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Even Goneril has her one splendid hour, her fire - flaught of hellish glory; when she treads under foot the half-hearted goodness, the wordy and windy though sincere abhorrence, which is all that the mild and impotent revolt of Albany can bring to bear against her imperious and dauntless devilhood; when she flaunts before the eyes of her "milk-livered" and "moral fool" the coming banners of France about the "plumed helm" of his slayer.
A Study of Shakespeare Algernon Charles Swinburne 1873
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Albany enters, and reproaches Goneril half-heartedly for her aggression, which leads her to call him "milk-livered."
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1638 FORD Fancies IV. i, This page a milk-livered dildoe.
Obscure Word Origin Richard Nokes 2006
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"Oh, the coward!" he shouted; "Oh, the milk-livered rogue!
The Line of Love Dizain des Mariages James Branch Cabell 1918
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