craven

views updated May 23 2018

cra·ven / ˈkrāvən/ • adj. contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly.• n. archaic a cowardly person.DERIVATIVES: cra·ven·ly adv.cra·ven·ness n.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

craven

views updated May 29 2018

craven defeated XIII; poor-spirited, pusillanimous XIV; sb. XVI. ME. crauaunt, later crauaunde, cravand, perh. — clipped AN. form (cf. ASSIGN 2) of OF. cravanté overcome, vanquished, pp. of cravanter crush, overwhelm — Rom. *crepantāre, f. crepant-, prp. stem of L. crepāre rattle, burst; later assim. to pps. in -EN 6.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

More From encyclopedia.com

About this article

craven

All Sources -
Updated Aug 08 2016 About encyclopedia.com content Print Topic

You Might Also Like