Contextualizebeta

cowardly

adj
/ˈkaʊədli/UK

Etymology

From Middle English *cowardly (adjective) and cowardly (adverb), equivalent to coward + -ly. Displaced native Old English earg.

  1. inherited from *cowardly✻

Definitions

  1. Showing cowardice

    Showing cowardice; lacking in courage; weakly fearful.

    • The cowardly rascals that ran from the battle.
    • 1780, Edmund Burke, speech at The Guildhall, in Bristol The cowardly rashness of those who dare not look danger in the face.

  2. In the manner of a coward, cowardlily.

    • We will not ſteale vpon him cowardly, But giue him warning and more warriours.
    • I love to follow them, but not so cowardly, as my life remaine thereby in subjection.
    • […] men who cowardly and hypocritically subscribe orthodox creeds, whilst they teach a different kind of doctrine!

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at cowardly. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01cowardly02coward03lacks04lack05spiritual06spirit07ghost08faint

A definitional loop anchored at cowardly. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at cowardly

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA