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- Dictionarylil·y-liv·ered/ˈlilē ˌlivərd/
adjective
- 1. weak and cowardly: "he hates lily-livered politicians and permissive judges"
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Lily-livered means lacking courage or cowardly. It comes from an old belief that a white liver, or lily-liver, was caused by a deficiency of yellow bile, the humor that governed anger and spirit.
Lily-livered is an adjective that means not brave or cowardly. It is a literary and formal word that can be used to describe someone who is afraid or timid. See synonyms, antonyms and usage examples from the Cambridge Dictionary.
Lily-livered means weak or lacking in courage; cowardly; pusillanimous. Learn the origin, usage and synonyms of this adjective from Dictionary.com.
Lily-livered means cowardly, and it comes from the medieval belief that the liver controlled emotions and that a pale liver was a sign of weakness. The phrase was coined by Shakespeare in Macbeth and has many variations with 'lily'.
LILY-LIVERED definition | Cambridge English Dictionary. Meaning of lily-livered in English. lily-livered. adjective. literary us / ˌlɪl.iˈlɪv.ɚd / uk / ˌlɪl.iˈlɪv.əd / Add to word list. not brave. Synonyms. chicken child's word. cowardly disapproving. craven formal disapproving. fainthearted. pusillanimous formal. timid. timorous literary.
Lily-livered means cowardly or timid, and is often used to criticize someone's lack of courage. The word comes from Shakespeare's Macbeth and has synonyms such as yellow or scared.
lily-livered. /ˌlɪli ˈlɪvərd/. IPA guide. Definitions of lily-livered. adjective. easily frightened. synonyms: chicken, chickenhearted, white-livered, yellow, yellow-bellied. cowardly, fearful. lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted.
