white-livered
Americanadjective
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lacking courage; cowardly; lily-livered.
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lacking in vitality or spirit; pale; unhealthy.
adjective
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lacking in spirit or courage
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pallid and unhealthy in appearance
Etymology
Origin of white-livered
First recorded in 1540–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That will separate the men from the boys, the ones with guts and the ones too white-livered to face Hoffa and his racketeers.
From Time Magazine Archive
He’s the best sport I’ve ever seen, and I hate 99 to see him beat up by that white-livered slugger.”
From Captain Pott's Minister by Cooper, Francis L. (Francis Le Roy)
"Don't thee be white-livered, Emily, or say owt for which you'll be sorry afterwards."
From The Day of Judgment by Hocking, Joseph
The deacon knew how his brother-official was ruled by his wife, and lustily despised the white-livered caitiff for his pusillanimity.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 11 by Wilson, John Mackay
The one twit him with being a white-livered coward, the other consider him to be either a sneak or a "deep fellow."
From A Plea for the Criminal Being a reply to Dr. Chapple's work: 'The Fertility of the Unfit', and an Attempt to explain the leading principles of Criminological and Reformatory Science by Kayll, James Leslie Allan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
