Wiktionary

poltroon

English

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WOTD – 18 December 2009

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle French poltron, from Italian poltrone.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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poltroon (plural poltroons)

  1. An ignoble or total coward; a dastard; a mean-spirited wretch.
    • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
      Patience is for poltroons, such as he:
      He durst not sit there, had your father lived.
    • 1727, Daniel Defoe, edited by J. Roberts, An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions‎[1], London, Chapter 8, page 144:
      For the Devil’s a Coward in Nature,
      A pitiful sorry Poltroon;
      If you take but the Whip, he’ll give you the Slip;
      And before you can lash him, he’ll run.
    • 1778, George Washington, to Charles Lee following an act of insubordination:
      You damned poltroon, you never tried them!
    • 1842, Nicholas Michell, “Chapter 28”, in The Traduced: An Historical Romance‎[2], volume I, London: T. & W. Boone, pages 266–267:
      "To gain life by means of a breach of faith and honour, were indeed to render myself the poltroon, and the villain my accusers believe me."
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 38, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
      Strong had long understood Sir Francis Clavering’s character, as that of a man utterly weak in purpose, in principle, and intellect, a moral and physical trifler and poltroon.
    • 1875, Mark Twain, “Journalism in Tennessee”, in Sketches New and Old:
      The chief said, "That was the Colonel, likely. I've been expecting him for two days. He will be up now right away."
      He was correct. The Colonel appeared in the door a moment afterward with a dragoon revolver in his hand.
      He said, "Sir, have I the honor of addressing the poltroon who edits this mangy sheet?"
      "You have. Be seated, sir. Be careful of the chair, one of its legs is gone. I believe I have the honor of addressing the putrid liar, Colonel Blatherskite Tecumseh?"
      "Right, Sir. I have a little account to settle with you. If you are at leisure we will begin."
    • 1951, P. G. Wodehouse, 'The Old Reliable', London: Hutchinson, published 1981, page 162:
      The sounds outside had ceased...But somebody had been there, and she proposed to look into the matter thoroughly. There was nothing of the poltroon about Adela Shannon Cork
    • 1959, Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers:
      First is our unbreakable rule that every candidate must be a trained trooper, blooded under fire, a veteran of combat drops. No other army in history has stuck to this rule, although some came close. Most great military schools of the past — Saint Cyr, West Point, Sandhurst, Colorado Springs didn’t even pretend to follow it; they accepted civilian boys, trained them, commissioned them, sent them out with no battle experience to command men... and sometimes discovered too late that this smart young ‘officer’ was a fool, a poltroon, or a hysteric.
    • 2018 Jared, "Tech Evangelist", Silicon Valley episode 42, 5 minutes
      You judas, you cow-handed poltroon, we thought you were a stallion.

Synonyms

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Translations

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Adjective

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poltroon (comparative more poltroon, superlative most poltroon)

  1. Cowardly.
    • 1926, T. E. Lawrence, “Chapter 82”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom‎[3]:
      Accordingly, to excuse our deliberate inactivity in the north, we had to make a show of impotence, which gave them to understand that the Arabs were too poltroon to cut the line near Maan and keep it cut.

Translations

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References

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Further reading

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