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Coward (anciently written culvard)

is either from the French, couard, originally written culvert, from culver (a pigeon), pigeon-livered being still a common expression for a coward; or else from the Latin, culum verʹtere, to turn tail (Spanish, cobarde; Portuguese, covarde; Italian, codardo, “a coward,” Latin, cauda, “a tail”). A beast cowarded, in heraldry, is one drawn with its coue or tail between its legs. The allusion is to the practice of beasts, who sneak off in this manner when they are cowed.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Coventry Mysteries
Cover
Covers were laid for
Covered Way
Covering the Face
Coverley
Covetous Man
Cow
Cow’s Tail
Cow-lick
Coward (anciently written culvard)
Cowper
Cowper Law
Coxcomb
Coxeyites
Coxswain
Coyne and Livery
Coystril
Cozen
Crab (A)
Crab-cart