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Wanting courage; basely or weakly timid or fearful; pusillanimous; spiritless. The cowardly rascals that ran from the battle. Shak.

Bold; courageous; daring; intrepid; -- opposed to cowardly; as, a brave man; a brave act.

Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable. Arnold had sped his caitiff flight. W. Irving.

Timid; fearful; cowardly. Bunyan.

eir populous youth about the hive In clusters. Milton. We loved him; but, like beasts And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters, Who did hoot him out o' the city. Shak.

Destitute of courage; timid; cowardly. Fie, coward woman, and soft-hearted wretch. Shak.

Cowardly. [Obs.] " A base and a cowardish mind." Robynson (More's Utopia).

To render cowardly. [Obs.] God . . . cowardizeth . . . insolent spirits. Bp. Hall.

Cowardly. The Lady Powis . . . patted him with her fan, and called him a cowhearted fellow. R. North.

Timorous; fearful; cowardly. [R.] Shak.

Cowardly; fainthearted; spiritless. "His craven heart." Shak. The poor craven bridegroom said never a word. Sir. W. Scott. In craven fear of the sarcasm of Dorset. Macualay.

Meanly shrinking from danger; cowardly; dastardly. "Their dastard souls." Addison.

To make cowardly; to intimidate; to dispirit; as, to dastardize my courage. Dryden.

Meanly timid; cowardly; base; as, a dastardly outrage.

Wanting in courage, spirit, or energy; timorous; cowardly; dejected; depressed; as, "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady." Old Proverb.

Wanting in courage; depressed by fear; easily discouraged or frightened; cowardly; timorous; dejected. Fear not, neither be faint-hearted. Is. vii. 4. -- Faint"*heart`ed*ly, adv. -- Faint"*heart`ed*ness, n.

To run away, as from danger or evil; to avoid in an alarmed or cowardly manner; to hasten off; -- usually with from. This is sometimes omitted, making the verb transitive. [He] cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke. Shak. Flee fornication. 1 Cor. vi. 18. So fled his enemies my warlike father. Shak.…

to funk at the edge of a precipice. [Colloq.] C. Kingsley. To funk out, to back out in a cowardly fashion. [Colloq.] To funk right out o' political strife. Lowell (Biglow Papers).

Cowardly; timid; chicken-hearted. Udall.

e family Hyænidæ, of which three living species are known. They are large and strong, but cowardly. They feed chiefly on carrion, and are nocturnal in their habits. [Written also hyæna.]