yellow streak

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a trait of cowardice in a person's character.

---

yellow streak British  

noun

1. informal  a cowardly or weak trait, characteristic, or flaw in a person's nature

---

Etymology

Origin of yellow streak

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

Example Sentences

Another Jones signature is to paint a red or yellow streak on one side of the canvas or its top, perpendicular to the wall, so that when the light hits, a diffuse glow forms.

From New York Times

At the 1908 International Exclusion League convention in Seattle, an American Federation of Labor official declared that the Stars and Stripes would never have “a yellow streak.”

From Seattle Times

Covered in crunchy quinoa, toasted sesame seeds and flakes of kelp intensified with soy, it sits on a yellow streak of sauce made from aji amarillo.

From New York Times

The newspaper checked it out with the local constable who confirmed that a dummy, half black, half white, with my name on it and a yellow streak painted down its back, was hanging from the wire.

From Literature

“It has a yellow color because there’s a yellow streak in the middle, somewhere between daffodil and lemon yellow,” she said.

From New York Times