poltroon

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“
You are well known for a poltroon, and if you had one grain of courage, you would never have chosen your ground in the midst of your guards, to insult a gentleman of a better house, and of a more honourable birth than your own; but I shall one day have my revenge.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A base coward: "Every moment of the fashion industry's misery is richly deserved by the designers . . . and magazine poltroons who perpetuate this absurd creation” (Nina Totenberg).

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Examples (50)

  • A few days after, this poltroon was in his turn superseded by a brave veteran, General Dugommier, and Napoleon could at last count on having his efforts backed. —  The History of Napoleon Buonaparte
  • It doesn't matter what kind of poltroon parks his or her butt in the Oval Office, or how they get in there; they will be presented to the people as a figure of moral authority and gravitas -- and be accepted as such by large swathes of the public. —  Chris Floyd - Empire Burlesque
  • This once again proves one of the reasons that inexperience is a dangerous political flaw because the media, who spent months preening the poltroon are now set to kneecap the knob .. —  Capitol Hill Coffee House
  • I called myself a poltroon, and fingered my neck-tie, and smoothed my hair before the mirror. —  Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, and His Romaunt Abroad During the War
  • I must do that, or else proclaim myself a poltroon--I feel myself one--a self-accusation that would give me a life-long remorse. —  The Lone Ranche
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

weakling ·  toadyism ·  slanderer ·  backslider ·  sneak ·  cad ·  caitiff ·  coward ·  pervert ·  rotter ·  betrayer ·  knave
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 (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French poltron, from Old Italian poltrone, coward, idler, perhaps augmentative of poltro, unbroken colt (from Vulgar Latin *pulliter, from Latin pullus, young animal; see pau-1 in Indo-European roots) or from poltro, bed, lazy.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly poltron; from French poltron, a coward, dastard, knave, rascal, also a sluggard, = Spanish poltron = Portuguese poltrão, a coward, from Italian poltrone (Middle Latin pultro(n-), a coward), from poltro, lazy, cowardly, as a noun a sluggard, coward, cf. poltrare, poltrire, lie in bed, be idle, from poltro, bed, couch, from Old High German polstar, bolstar, Middle High German G. bolster, a pillow, cushion, bolster, quilt, = English bolster: see bolster.
 

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/pɑlˈtrun/
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