Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POL-TROON', n. [Fr. poltron; It. poltrone, an idle fellow, a coward; poltrire, to sleep, to be idle, to loiter; Sp. poltron, idle, lazy, easy, commodious; Port. poltram, an idler; poltram, poltrona, lazy, cowardly; Arm. poultroun; certainly not from pollice truncato. The primary sense is idle, at ease, whence lazy; perhaps from the root of fail, W. pallu.]

An arrant coward; a dastard; a wretch without spirit or courage. – Dryden.