- lily-livered
- adjective Date: 1605 lacking courage ; cowardly
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
lily-livered
Look at other dictionaries:
lily-livered — Someone who is lily livered is a coward … The small dictionary of idiomes
lily-livered — cowardly, 1605, in Macbeth; from LILY (Cf. lily) (in its color sense of pale, bloodless ) + LIVER (Cf. liver) (n.1), which was a supposed seat of love and passion. A healthy liver is typically dark reddish brown … Etymology dictionary
Lily-livered — Lil y liv ered (l[i^]l [y^] l[i^]v [ e]rd), a. White livered; cowardly. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
lily-livered — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ cowardly … English terms dictionary
lily-livered — [lil′ē liv΄ərd] adj. [first recorded in Shakespeare s Macbeth, V, iii] cowardly; timid … English World dictionary
lily-livered — adjective easily frightened • Syn: ↑chicken, ↑chickenhearted, ↑white livered, ↑yellow, ↑yellow bellied • Similar to: ↑cowardly, ↑fearful … Useful english dictionary
lily-livered — mod. cowardly. □ Don’t be so lily livered. Give it a try. □ That lily livered guy is up hiding under his bed till this blows over … Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions
lily-livered — adjective Cowardly, lacking bravery. . . . a lily livered, action taking knave . . . ; one that wouldst be a bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel… … Wiktionary
lily-livered — Someone who is lily livered is a coward. (Dorking School Dictionary) … English Idioms & idiomatic expressions
lily-livered — cowardly, chicken, wimpy Bull riding is not a sport for lily livered folks. It s not for wimps … English idioms
lily-livered — literary not brave. I ve never seen such a lily livered bunch of wimps in my life! … New idioms dictionary
