Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COW, n. [plur. cows; old plur. kine. Sax. cu; D. koe; G. kuh; Sw. ko; Dan. koe; L. ceva; Hindoo gaj, or gou; Pers. koh; Pahlavi, gao; Sans. go, a cow, and gau, ox, godama, a cowherd; Heb. געה, to low.]

The female of the bovine genus of animals; a quadruped with cloven hoofs, whose milk furnishes an abundance of food and profit to the farmer. Sea-cow, the Manatus, a species of the Trichechus. [See Sea-cow.]

COW, v.t. [Qu. Ice. kufwa, or kuga, to depress.]

To depress with fear; to sink the spirits or courage; to oppress with habitual timidity. – Shak.

COW'ARD, a.

1. Destitute of courage; timid; base; as, a coward wretch.
2. Proceeding from or expressive of fear, or timidity; coward cry; coward joy. – Shak. Prior.

COW'ARD, n. [Fr. couard; Arm. couhard; Sp. and Port. cobarde. The original French orthography was culvert, and it has been supposed to be from culum vertere, to turn the tail. This suggestion receives countenance from the corresponding word in Italian, codardo, codardia, which would seem to be from coda, the tail; and it derives confirmation from the use of the word in heraldry. In Welsh, it is caçan, caçgi, from the same root as L. caco.]

1. A person who wants courage to meet danger; a poltroon; a timid or pusillanimous man. A coward does not always escape with disgrace, but sometimes loses his life. – South.
2. In heraldry, a term given to a lion borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs. – Encyc.

COW'ARD, v.t.

To make timorous.

COW'ARD-ED, pp.

Made cowardly.

COW'ARD-ICE, n. [Fr. couardise; Sp. cobardia.]

Want of courage to face danger; timidity; pusillanimity; fear of exposing one's person to danger. Cowardice alone is loss of fame. – Dryden. Did cowardice; did injustice ever save a sinking state? – Ames.

COW'ARD-ING, ppr.

Making cowardly.

COW'ARD-IZE, v.t.

To render cowardly.

COW-ARD-IZ'ED, pp.

Rendered cowardly.

COW-ARD-IZ'ING, ppr.

Rendering cowardly.

COW'ARD-LIKE, a.

Resembling a coward; mean.

COW'ARD-LI-NESS, n.

Want of courage; timidity; cowardice.

COW'ARD-LY, a.

1. Wanting courage to face danger; timid; timorous; fearful; pusillanimous. – Bacon.
2. Mean; base; befitting a coward; as, a cowardly action.
3. Proceeding from fear of danger; as, cowardly silence. – South.

COW'ARD-LY, adv.

In the manner of a coward; meanly; basely. – Knolles.

COW'ARD-OUS, a.

Cowardly. [Not used.] – Barret.

COW'ARD-SHIP, n.

Cowardice. [Not used.] – Shak.

COW'-BANE, n. [cow and bane.]

A popular name of the Æthusa cynapium.

COW'ED, pp.

Depressed with fear.

COW'ER, v.i. [W. cwrian, to squat, or cower; cwr, a circle; G. kauern. See Class Gr, No. 32, 34, 37.]

To sink by bending the knees; to crouch; to squat; to stoop or sink downward. Our dame sits cowering o'er a kitchen fire. – Dryden.

COW'ER, v.t.

To cherish with care. [Not used.] – Spenser.

COW'ER-ED, pp.

Cherished with care.

COW'HAGE, or COW'-ITCH, n. [In Bengalee, al kooshee.]

A leguminous plant of the genus Mucuna, a native of warm climates. It has a fibrous root and an herbaceous climbing stalk, with red papilionaceous flowers, and leguminous, coriaceous pods, crooked and covered with sharp hairs, which penetrate the skin, and cause an itching.

COW'HERD, n. [See Herd.]

One whose occupation it is to tend cows.

COW'-HOUSE, n.

A house or building in which cows are kept or stabled. – Mortimer.