pot-valiant
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pot-valiant
First recorded in 1635–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Swaggering and bullying and loud-voiced and pot-valiant, Drusenin and two Cossacks stooped to enter a low-thatched Aleut hut.
From Pioneers of the Pacific Coast A Chronicle of Sea Rovers and Fur Hunters by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)
If these men just mentioned had been so protected they would not have been killed, however rash or pot-valiant they might have been.
From The Romance of Natural History, Second Series by Gosse, Philip Henry
Valiant or pot-valiant, great was his relief at finding himself clasped, instead of by a loathsome spectre, by a silver-haired man of noble presence, yet with a countenance indescribably haggard and anxious.
From The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales by Garnett, Richard
His eyes wore an expression of profound misery, but he preserved steadily other portions of a pot-valiant air.
From The Monster and Other Stories by Crane, Stephen
Now, poor old Mole had on occasions been what is called pot-valiant.
From Jack Harkaway and His Son's Escape from the Brigand's of Greece by Hemyng, Bracebridge
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
