Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Timid; cowardly; dastardly; chicken-hearted.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Cowardly; timid; chicken-hearted.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
cowardly ;timid
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The hen-hearted rascal is so cowardly that he berays himself for fear every day.
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
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The hen-hearted rascal is so cowardly that he berays himself for fear every day.
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
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But damn ye altogether for a pack of crafty rascals, and you, who serve them, for a parcel of hen-hearted numbskulls!
The Pirates' Who's Who Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers Philip Gosse 1919
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'No, no; I understand,' said her hostess: 'you are hen-hearted over your adopted brood.
Diana of the Crossways — Volume 5 George Meredith 1868
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'No, no; I understand,' said her hostess: 'you are hen-hearted over your adopted brood.
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868
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'No, no; I understand,' said her hostess: 'you are hen-hearted over your adopted brood.
Diana of the Crossways — Complete George Meredith 1868
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A hen-hearted fellow has been put forward as the candidate of the malcontents, who can be easily driven from the canvass by his personal fears.
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Were this not bitter, 'twould lack of the manifold virtues it possesseth; amongst which are that it digesteth food and disperseth cark and care and dispelleth flatulence and clarifieth the blood and cleareth the complexion and quickeneth the body and hearteneth the hen-hearted and fortifieth the sexual power in man; but to name all its virtues would be tedious.
Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855
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A few thousands of these sturdy fellows would put to flight an army of hen-hearted Hindús or
To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II A Personal Narrative Richard Francis Burton 1855
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"You had betther not be mintioning his name, you _omadhaun_," replied the other; "if I was your age, and hadn't a wife and childre on my hands, it's myself that would trust in God, and go down manfully; but the people are hen-hearted now, besides what they used to be in my time."
The Station; The Party Fight And Funeral; The Lough Derg Pilgrim Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of William Carleton, Volume Three William Carleton 1831
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