coward cowards die many times before their death a comment on vividly imagined fears, often with allusion to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths: The valiant never taste of death but once.’ The saying is recorded from the late 16th century.
cowardy custard a cowardly person, often used as a taunt by children, and recorded as such from the mid 19th century. (Early forms also have costard, a kind of cooking apple which was humorously used to mean a person's head.)

See also a bully is always a coward.

cow·ard / ˈkou-ərd/ • n. a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things.• adj. 1. poetic/lit. excessively afraid of danger or pain.2. Heraldry (of an animal) depicted with the tail between the hind legs.

coward XIII. ME. cu(e)ard — OF. cuard, later couard, f. Rom. *cōda, L. cauda, tail; see -ARD. In the OF. ‘Roman de Renart’, coart is the name of the hare.
So cowardice XIII. — OF. couardise.