show the white feather

Idioms  

1. Display cowardice, as in The minute Bob put up his fists, Bill showed the white feather and backed down. This expression comes from cockfighting, where a white feather in a bird's tail is considered a sign of inferior breeding. [Early 1800s]

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Example Sentences

On the other hand, they frequently win, and it would be foolish to show the white feather until he knows a little more about the hands of his adversaries.

From Hoyle's Games Modernized by Hoffmann, Louis

“Must I show the white feather and flee from this ghastly apparition?”

From Marjorie Dean High School Senior by Chase, Josephine

It was eight miles from my home, hence this was no place to show the "white feather."

From From Bull Run to Appomattox by Hopkins, Luther W.

The Iron Boy, however, possessed too much grit to show the white feather.

From The Iron Boys in the Mines or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft by Mears, James R.

If any one of them happens to be valiant about something, he need not be comforted nor carried away by that; he would show the white feather just the same before something else.

From White Nights and Other Stories The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Volume X by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor