white-livered

American  

[hwahyt-liv-erd, wahyt-] / ˈʰwaɪtˈlɪv ərd, ˈwaɪt- /

adjective

1. lacking courage; cowardly; lily-livered.

2. lacking in vitality or spirit; pale; unhealthy.

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white-livered British  

adjective

1. lacking in spirit or courage

2. pallid and unhealthy in appearance

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Etymology

Origin of white-livered

First recorded in 1540–50

Example Sentences

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

I’ll take it home to Brichtiva my wife,—she’s not so white-livered as thou.”

From One Snowy Night Long ago at Oxford by Irwin, M. (Madelaine)

The directors in their rage called the colonists white-livered deserters.

From An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America by MacLean, J. P. (John Patterson)

"And may I ask why you begged that double-faced, white-livered friend of yours not to come to-morrow evening?" he asked, after some minutes.

From The Pobratim A Slav Novel by Jones, P.

“He’s a coward as well as a fool,” he said afterwards in the bosom of his family; “a white-livered fool who hasn’t the nerve to look at a sick child.”

From In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim by Burnett, Frances Hodgson