Recreant

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Recreant \Rec"re*ant\ (-ant), a. [OF., cowardly, fr. recroire,
     recreire, to forsake, leave, tire, discourage, regard as
     conquered, LL. recredere se to declare one's self conquered
     in combat; hence, those are called recrediti or recreanti who
     are considered infamous; L. pref. re- again, back + credere
     to believe, to be of opinion; hence, originally, to disavow


     one's opinion. See {Creed}.]
     1. Crying for mercy, as a combatant in the trial by battle;
        yielding; cowardly; mean-spirited; craven. "This recreant
        knight." --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Apostate; false; unfaithful.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Who, for so many benefits received,
              Turned recreant to God, ingrate and false. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Recreant \Rec"re*ant\, n.
     One who yields in combat, and begs for mercy; a
     mean-spirited, cowardly wretch. --Blackstone.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           You are all recreants and dastards!      --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  recreant
       adj 1: having deserted a cause or principle; "some provinces had
              proved recreant"; "renegade supporters of the usurper"
              [syn: {renegade}]
       2: lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful;
          "the craven fellow turned and ran"; "a craven proposal to
          raise the white flag"; "this recreant knight"- Spenser
          [syn: {craven}]
       n 1: an abject coward [syn: {poltroon}, {craven}]
       2: a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or
          religion or political party or friend etc. [syn: {deserter},
           {apostate}, {renegade}, {turncoat}, {ratter}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  110 Moby Thesaurus words for "recreant":
     Sabbath-breaker, apostate, arrant coward, atheist, atheistic,
     backslider, backsliding, bad egg, bad lot, base, black sheep,
     blackguardly, blasphemer, blasphemous, bolter, caitiff,
     collaborationist, collaborative, collaborator, convert, craven,
     dastard, dastardly, defector, degenerate, degraded, derelict,
     deserter, disaffected, disloyal, dunghill, dunghilly, faithless,
     fallen, fallen angel, fallen from grace, false, fickle,
     fifth columnist, impious, inconstant, infamous, irreligious,
     irreverent, knavish, lapsed, lecher, lost sheep, lost soul,
     miscreant, mugwump, not true to, notorious, of bad faith,
     perfidious, pervert, pimp, poltroon, poltroonish, profanatory,
     profane, profligate, proselyte, pusillanimous, quisling, rascally,
     rat, recidivist, recidivistic, renegade, renegado, renegate,
     reprobate, reversionist, roguish, runagate, sacrilegious,
     sacrilegist, scampish, scapegrace, schismatic, scoundrelly,
     seceder, secessionist, separatist, sneak, sorry lot, strikebreaker,
     tergiversant, tergiversating, tergiversator, traitor, traitorous,
     treacherous, treasonable, treasonous, trollop, trothless,
     turnabout, turncoat, turntail, unbeliever, undutiful, unfaithful,
     unloyal, unsteadfast, untrue, vile, villainous, whore
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  RECREANT. A Coward; a poltroon. 3 Bl. Com. 340.